After their late turnaround against AZ Alkmaar on Tuesday, Aston Villa will be in search of a record-breaking 13th league victory in a row at Villa Park, in a run that spans back to February when they were defeated by Arsenal.
The next visitor will be Marco Silva’s Fulham, who are having a below-average start to their second season back in the Premier League, sitting in 15th, six points above the drop zone.
The hosts, however, are having a remarkable start to the campaign in Unai Emery’s first full season in charge – occupying fifth place, just two points off Arsenal, who are the final team in the Champions League spots.
Fulham will have a slight advantage, having not played mid-week and will be looking to take advantage of any tired legs in claret and blue, coming off the back of a late defeat to Manchester United last week, with Bruno Fernandes’ stoppage time strike securing the points at Old Trafford.
Team News
Aston Villa
Emi Buendia will definitely be absent after suffering a significant knee ligament injury in pre-season training, and Villa fans won’t be expecting to see the Argentine anytime soon.
A familiar story awaits Tyrone Mings, who also suffered a serious knee injury and was stretchered off in the first half of his side’s heavy defeat to Newcastle in August.
Some positive news for the Villains, with Jacob Ramsey pictured back in training this week after missing the previous seven games with a reoccurrence of a previous foot injury. Sunday may be too soon for the England U21 international but he may make an appearance off the bench.
Fulham
Issa Diop is set to miss out after being absent for the last three games with a foot injury suffered in his side's 3-1 victory over bottom-of-the-league Sheffield United.
Adama Traore is a doubt for the clash, having been sidelined for a number of weeks after a hamstring injury. He hasn’t appeared for Fulham since the start of September.
Marco Silva put him in contention for his side’s trip to Manchester United last week but wasn’t part of the matchday squad.
Likely Lineups
Aston Villa
Martinez; Cash, Torres, Carlos, Digne; Zaniolo, Douglas Luiz, Kamara, McGinn; Diaby, Watkins.
Fulham
Leno; Castagne, Bassey, Ream, Robinson; Iwobi, Palhinha; Wilson, Pereira, Willian; Jiminez.
Robinson, Ream, Bassey, Castagne; Willian, Pereira, Palhinha, Wilson, Iwobi; Jimenez.
Key Players
Aston Villa - Ollie Watkins
The Englishman has been in scintillating form so far this season, rightfully being named back in Gareth Southgate’s England side for the upcoming EURO 2024 qualifiers against North Macedonia and Malta.
He’ll be looking to back up his goal on Wednesday, completing his side’s comeback over Alkmaar after going a goal down to the Dutch side early on, which takes his tally for the season to ten goals and five assists in 18 games across all competitions.
Fulham - Joao Palhinha
Palhinha has put his failed move to Bayern Munich on transfer deadline day behind him, signing a deal until 2028 just two weeks after almost moving to Germany.
The Portuguese international has scored two goals in nine games this season from midfield, giving him the best game-to-goal ratio in the Fulham squad, and has almost equalled his tally from the whole of the last season, where he got three.
He scored the all-important goal in the last time the Cottagers picked up points, in a 1-1 draw away at Brighton and played well last time out against United at Craven Cottage, despite Fernandes’ late goal.
Match Details.
Where is the game being played?
The fixture will take place at Villa Park in Birmingham.
What time is kick-off?
The match will start at 2pm local time.
How can I watch?
The game has not been picked to be streamed on Sky Sports, so only fans outside of the UK will be able to watch live on TV.
