On a rare Tuesday night of Premier League football, Unai Emery’s men showcased the prime example of a scrappy home win.

Their fifth consecutive victory at Villa Park fittingly moved them up to fifth place in the Premier League table, following a goal from their number five.

The only goal of the match came from a John McGinn corner, glanced onto to an unmarked far-post by Tyrone Mings after 21 minutes.

Fulham managed just one attempt on goal through Andreas Pereira’s scissor kick in the first 20 seconds played. In the second half, Mings deflected a Harrison Reed delivery into his own net only for it to be ruled out with Reed blatantly offside.

Aston Villa, now unbeaten in their last ten, will look to their next fixture away at Manchester United, hoping to continue picking up points in the race for European football.

Mitrovic-less Fulham endured another injury blow when Harry Wilson was substituted off following an injury in just the 17th minute. The Welshman had bagged in his previous two Premier League appearances and scored his first ever premier goal against Aston Villa. His side remains in ninth position.

  • Villa will find a way to score

The Birmingham-based side have scored in all 20 of their Premier League games under Unai Emery, the longest consecutive scoring streak from the start of a manager’s tenure in the competition’s history. They are approaching their longest scoring run in the competition, a run of 24 games between September and March 2007-8.

In previous games, this has been greatly helped by the goal scoring form of Ollie Watkins who has 14 Premier League goal contributions in 2023, more than both Erling Haaland and Harry Kane.

However, in these last two games, Villa have been able to find goals from more unlikely sources. Mings’ soaring header against Fulham was his first goal of the season. While against Brentford, Douglas Luiz slotted for his fourth league goal under Emery and seventh goal contribution total. The Brazilian only managed a single goal under Steven Gerrard’s management and four goal contributions overall.

Indeed, former manager Gerrard chose to bench two of Aston Villa’s most creative players under Emery, in Douglas Luiz and Ollie Watkins, in their first game of the season resulting in a loss to Bournemouth.

Emery’s side have produced five Premier League wins in a row at Villa Park for the first time since 1998. Additionally, they have done so by keeping a clean sheet in each game for the first time since 1983. To the relief of the Claret and Blue Army, Emi Martinez passed a pre-kick-off fitness test to keep his 11th clean sheet of the season against Fulham.

A feature of their improved defensive strength has been £12m January signing Alex Moreno, from Real Betis. Moreno progresses the ball well from left-back and helps Villa transition at speed. His pure pace is also a defensive asset helping to make key recoveries.

Emery has a history of making his teams hard to beat, setting a new winning streak record at his former club Villarreal in which they went nineteen games unbeaten in all competitions.

The home atmosphere at Villa Park will be further enhanced when their attendance breaks 50,000 following development, which is due to start next year and be completed by 2025. It is exciting times for Villa fans on and off the pitch.

  • Fulham are ready for the season to end

Fulham are going without important firepower. Not only was Harry Wilson replaced after 17 minutes due to an injury, but Fulham were also without attacking threat Willian for the game at Villa park, who was taken out the starting line-up shortly before kick-off.

Meanwhile, their top scorer Mitrovic continues to serve his eight-game ban for pushing referee Chris Kavanagh in the FA Cup.

The Cottagers have won a respectable six games on the road this season, their joint-highest number of away wins in a single top-flight campaign. As well as this, they had won four out of four midweek games in the Premier League. Despite this, Fulham looked flat and lacklustre in the Midlands and were clearly missing their dangerous forward players.

With trips to Anfield and Old Trafford upcoming and Manchester City still yet to visit Craven Cottage, Fulham’s make shift side will have to pull together for some tough upcoming opponents. Either way mid-table likely beckons for Marco Silva's side who are five points off European places with six games of their season remaining.

  • Mings is over criticised

In his 160th appearance for Aston Villa, the former club captain scored and kept a clean sheet to secure his side all three points against Fulham.

Mings has kept 43 Premier League clean sheets for Aston Villa, placing him sixth all time for the club in the history of the competition. One Gareth Southgate takes up third place in this list with 65 clean sheets for Villa, and the now England manager may once again be persuaded to call up the 6’5 centre-back.

Many are likely to focus on Mings’ faults, committing two errors leading to goals this season, however it is undoubtable the commitment he has shown for his club. He has been key in promotion from the Championship, surviving a gritty relegation battle, and is now part of this impressive Emery revival.