Aston Villa 3-1 Fulham: Hosts maintain fine home form with routine win over Cottagers
Aston Villa maintained their winning start to the season at home with a routine Premier League victory over a lacklustre Fulham side.
Antonee Robinson's own goal and John McGinn's placed finish into the bottom right corner put Unai Emery's side firmly in control at the break.
And Ollie Watkins' tapped in substitute Leon Bailey's cross, with McGinn again involved, just after the hour mark as Villa claimed a 13th consecutive win at home in the top flight for the first time since 1983.
The result also means Villa have opened a season in England's top division with six successive home wins for the first time since 1932-33.
Raul Jimenez hit the post before rolling in from Robinson's pass to give Fulham a consolation goal in a much improved second-half display.
However, the visitors rarely looked capable of clawing their way back into the contest despite a noticeable drop in intensity from the hosts after the interval.
Villa remain fifth with the Cottagers in 16th, six points clear of the bottom three.
Villa go through the gears
While Villa's form has been erratic away from home, they have at times looked irresistible on their own patch.
And while they did not need be at their best on a wet Birmingham afternoon, when they did go through the gears it proved too much for an underwhelming Fulham side to contend with.
Emery's side, who have scored 23 goals in their six games at Villa Park, were always in control.
Fulham had already survived a Villa penalty claim, that was overturned after a VAR review showed Timothy Castagne's head and not arm had blocked Ollie Watkins' early goalbound effort, before they fell behind.
Youri Tielemans, who was continuously given too much space on the left, saw his cross bundled past Fulham goalkeeper Bernd Leno by American left-back Robinson, who was frantically attempting to cover Moussa Diaby's dangerous near-post run.
Captain McGinn, who was impressive throughout superbly picked his spot from 18 yards to double the home side's lead and almost had a hand in a fourth Villa goal late on when Joao Palhinha turned the Scottish midfielder's cross onto his own bar, with Watkins and Bailey then spurning opportunities to score.
More to follow