Fulham vs Aston Villa analysis: Five key battles and score prediction

Fulham play hosts to Aston Villa in a 3pm Premier League showdown at Craven Cottage on Saturday, October 19, with the Londoners looking to build on their solid start to the season.

Both teams had a great summer transfer window and Fulham sit eighth in the top-flight table on 11 points, with Villa in fifth on 14 points after seven league games.

After losing star player Joao Palhinha, Fulham splashed the cash to bring in impressive players such as Emile Smith Rowe, Joachim Andersen and Sander Berge.

Marco Silva has put together a team that should be ambitious enough to try and compete for an outside chance in Europe; Unai Emery has come off the back of drawing 0-0 with Manchester United.

Here, Sports News Blitz writer Harrison Pearce considers five key battles ahead of the Saturday fixture after returning from international duty.

Marco Silva vs Unai Emery

These two managers have some interesting history, to say the least, with Marco Silva winning one, drawing one and losing five games against past Unai Emery teams.

One of the best stories out there was a heated bust-up in a game between Everton and Arsenal when Shkodran Mustafi clattered into Dominic Calvin-Lewin.

There were also claims that Arsenal’s Mesut Ozil threw a coat at Marco Silva but that was very quickly dismissed in a press conference after the game.

Looking ahead to 2024, both managers are facing each other again where Aston Villa will be trying to keep their momentum, and Fulham need to get back to winning ways.

In recent years, Aston Villa have dominated this fixture - winning their last three games, so let’s see if Unai Emery can work his magic once again.

Bernd Leno vs Emiliano Martinez

Both goalkeepers had tricky starts to the season in terms of clean sheets, picking up only two combined blanks - but that doesn’t mean they haven’t been influential for their teams.

This isn’t the first time they have reunited after being a part of Arsenal’s goalkeeping union between 2018 and 2020.

Emiliano Martinez finally forced his way into the first team 10 years after joining as Berd Leno picked up a season-ending injury.

The yet-to-become Argentine international went on to win the FA Cup, leaving Mikel Arteta in a difficult position on who to sell as there was a lot of buzz circling Martinez.

After joining Aston Villa in 2020, the world’s number one keeper went from strength to strength breaking the clean sheet record, winning the Copa America and World Cup for Argentina.

The same can’t be said for Leno but he has managed to stay at a steady level in the Premier League at a team who should be pushing for Europe.

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Emile Smith Rowe vs Youri Tielemans

Emile Smith Rowe had very limited minutes at his boyhood club Arsenal last season due to his injuries and higher expectations.

This led to Fulham signing Smith Rowe for a club-record fee of £27million.

A lot of Arsenal fans were pleased to see Smith Rowe depart as regular first-team minutes will only benefit his career.

As we have seen already this season, the London-born attacking midfielder has three goal contributions to his name.

Since breaking onto the scene at Anderlecht, Youri Tielemans has had a strong start to the season, racking up four goal contributions.

Eyebrows were raised when Aston Villa brought him on a free transfer last year considering he has previously been linked to the likes of Arsenal and Manchester United.

Aston Villa fans were worried about going into the new season without properly finding a Douglas Luiz replacement.

However, the Belgium international was hiding under everybody’s noses the whole time as he stepped up to the occasion flawlessly.

Tielemans has proved to be a perfect replacement in recent performances against Young Boys, scoring Aston Villa’s first Champions League goal in 41 years.

You can clearly see that Tielemans has taken over the set-pieces with him and Lucas Digne salsa-dancing over the free-kicks against Manchester United.

Antonee Robinson vs Leon Bailey

Since joining Fulham in 2020 Antonee Robinson has been a consistent performer for the West London club.

Robinson is level with Adama Traore for the most assists this season, proving he has that attacking threat moving forward.

A lot of teams have found joy down that right-hand side against Aston Villa, so Leon Bailey will have to be on top form defensively to stop Robinson from causing problems.

Robinson also has the most tackles this season for Fulham, meaning that Leon Bailey will have to step up his game if he wants to get back to his best from last year.

The Jamaican international has struggled to find his feet in this Aston Villa side recently, with Jaden Philogene breathing down his neck for that right-wing spot.

Even though Bailey has stepped away from international duty of late, he hasn’t made the impact all Villa fans were expecting.

He had such a good connection with Moussa Diaby last season, so hopefully it doesn’t take too long for Bailey to grab his first goal.

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Joachim Andersen vs Ollie Watkins

Everybody heard the name Joachim Andersen the first time around at Fulham on loan, where he quickly became a fans’ favourite.

If you fast forward to the summer of 2021, Andersen signed for Crystal Palace where he built a fantastic defensive partnership with Marc Guehi, who is now an England regular when fit.

Andersen is no stranger to Craven Cottage after rejoining Fulham permanently this season.

The Denmark international has featured for his country 36 times, where he has helped his nation reach the semi-finals of the World Cup 2022 and Euro 2024.

Ollie Watkins will be looking to break Gabby Agbonlahor’s Aston Villa scoring record this season as the Torquay striker is only 24 goals away from Gabby’s 87 in total.

It took Watkins six games into the season last year to get his first goal - and it was very similar this time around as well.

Once the Aston Villa striker scored his first goal, you just knew he would go on a good run of form with him getting seven goal contributions so far.

Watkins came back off England duty at the Nations League, with his signature step-overs providing an across-the-box assist for Declan Rice to finish his dinner.

Score prediction: Fulham 2 Aston Villa 3