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Aston Villa and Fulham drew 1-1 at Villa Park in Matchweek 9, and Villa will feel they gave this one away. John McGinn hit the crossbar with an early penalty, but Nicolas Jackson still put the hosts ahead in first-half stoppage time. Then in the 64th minute Villa goalkeeper Zion Suzuki dropped Alex Iwobi's corner over his own line for an own goal, which is a very unlucky way to lose two points. Villa's winning run stops at two and they sit on 12 points from nine games; Fulham move to 9 and stay just outside the top-six conversation. Unai Emery called it a fair result, which is what managers say when they are privately annoyed.
Pre-match Talking Points
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1Villa are 6th on 11 points, Fulham 13th on 8, and only three points separate a comfortable mid-table Saturday from a slightly anxious one. Villa want to keep touching distance of the top six and the European places. Fulham, with just six goals in eight league games, would love a win that stops people muttering about their scoring.
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2Unai Emery has won eight of his nine Premier League meetings with Fulham, which is the sort of record you quietly bring up when someone says the Premier League is unpredictable. Fulham haven't won at Villa Park since 2018. If they do it tonight, it ends a very long wait.
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3Watch Nicolas Jackson, who is tipped to lead Villa's attack. He is the sort of striker who can look brilliant and infuriating inside the same ten minutes, so he is worth keeping an eye on. Fulham have scored the fewest goals of anyone around them, so one chance for him might be enough.
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4The subplot is who is missing. Villa are without Amadou Onana (knee) and Aaron Wan-Bissaka (hamstring), plus Lucas Ruggeri, though Emery is expected to bring his regulars back after the 3-0 League Cup loss at Bournemouth in midweek. Fulham are without the suspended Ryan Sessegnon, so Antonee Robinson should be at left-back. Check the confirmed team sheets about an hour before kick-off.
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5The hook: this is the Saturday night game under the lights at Villa Park, so there is nothing else on. It is also a good test of whether Villa's midweek cup flop was a blip or a mood. A home side licking its wounds against a team that can't buy a goal is the sort of match that ends 1-0 or 4-3, with nothing in between.
Team Talking Points
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1Villa's last game was one of the maddest of the season: they led Manchester United 4-2 at Old Trafford with the clock deep into stoppage time and still only drew 4-4, after United scored twice in added time. It's the kind of result that feels like a defeat even though it technically isn't.
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2Unai Emery walked down the touchline towards the tunnel before the final whistle after a quick handshake with Michael Carrick, and then had to defend it afterwards. He admitted he thought the game was over when United equalised. Mentioning the early exit is a safe bet for a knowing grimace.
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3Villa go into the international break 10th with 13 points from 10 games – three wins, four draws, three defeats. Since beating Manchester City they've failed to beat Bournemouth, Fulham, Barcelona or United and leaked 11 goals in that run. Emery's message is 'keep working on the defending', which is putting it mildly.
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4Emery himself is still focusing on the positives – he points to three wins and three draws in recent matches – but the question being asked around Villa Park is whether the team has stalled after several years of steady progress under him. Ask a Villa fan whether this is a blip or a ceiling and stand well back.
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5The good news: the table is tight. Villa are only five points off fifth-placed Chelsea, so a decent run after the break would change the mood completely. The bad news is that defending a two-goal lead for six minutes is apparently the hard part.
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Top thing to say down the pub
4-2 up at Old Trafford in stoppage time and Emery's already heading for the tunnel – and it still ends 4-4. That one's going to sting all international break.
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Avoid saying
"At least it's a point away at United" – technically true, emotionally inaccurate. Villa fans see it as two points chucked away, and you'll be the only person in the room calling it a good result.
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1Fulham drew 1-1 with Newcastle at Craven Cottage on Saturday, and it took a late scramble. Jacob Murphy put Newcastle ahead with a stunner in the 80th minute, before substitute Rodrigo Muniz flicked in an equaliser three minutes later. It was his first Premier League goal in seven months, so the celebration had some feeling behind it.
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2Head coach Álvaro Arbeloa, the former Real Madrid and Liverpool defender, has Fulham on 10 points from 10 games. That's not thrilling, but they took eight of those points from the last four matches. They go into the break feeling a lot better than they did a month ago.
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3Odd but true: that was Fulham's first ever Premier League draw at home to Newcastle. It's the kind of trivia that makes you sound like you've got the stats app open under the table.
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4The reward for that improvement is a trip to Manchester City on 21 November when the league comes back. Expectations will be realistic. Mind you, City just lost 3-1 at Nottingham Forest, so a Fulham fan might be quietly hopeful.
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5Fulham are one of those clubs that never seem to be in the headlines, which suits them fine. The ground sits right on the Thames and has a 'neutral' section, a genuinely unusual thing in English football. Ask a Fulham fan about it and they'll be delighted someone noticed.
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Top thing to say down the pub
Eight points from the last four is decent going. Arbeloa's got Fulham ticking again, and Muniz scoring off the bench never hurts.
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Avoid saying
"Fulham? They're just a nice day out by the river" — it's meant kindly, but saying it out loud tells every Fulham fan you think their club's a tourist attraction rather than a football team.