Aston Villa have moved up into fifth in the Premier League table after beating Fulham 1-0 at Villa Park tonight.
Tyrone Mings's first-half header was enough for Unai Emery's side to clinch yet another victory on their charge for European football.
A fifth consecutive win to nil at home for Aston Villa means they are now a point ahead of Tottenham Hotspur, who do not play until Thursday.
In a game desperately lacking quality and chances, it was unsurprising that a set piece turned out to be the decisive factor.
A fifth defeat in seven league games for Fulham has now all but ended their hopes of finishing in a European place.
There was disappointment in the warm-up for manager Marco Silva, as their in-form man Willian had to be replaced in the starting XI by Manor Solomon after the Brazilian injured his hamstring.
The Fulham fans were momentarily cheering inside 20 seconds when Andreas Pereira's acrobatic volley rippled the side netting, before the realisation hit the away support that his effort had flashed narrowly off target.
That would end up being Fulham's only shot of the entire evening, as Villa took control of the game from the outset.
Pereira started as a false nine for Fulham, and with no real striking presence up front, the ball continued to just come back at them.
Villa had a number of half chances, many of which were blocked, and a penalty shout following Tosin Adarabioyo's lunge on Ollie Watkins as pressure mounted on the Fulham goal.
The deadlock was broken midway through the first half when John McGinn's outswinging corner was glanced on brilliantly by Mings over the head of a stranded Bernd Leno and into the far corner.
Despite their territorial advantage, Villa did not create much for the rest of the opening 45 minutes though, and Fulham's lack of urgency to counter that saw the game become very flat.
Fulham started to impose themselves on the fixture a little more in the second half, getting into some more advanced positions, especially out wide, but they still could not manage to muster a shot on goal.
Villa seemingly became very complacent given how easy it was for them in the first half, causing the Villa Park crowd to become more and more quiet.
It took almost half an hour of the second half for a moment of note to occur, when Watkins ran at Adarabioyo but fired over from a narrow angle.
Douglas Luiz looked to add to his goal from the weekend draw with Brentford, but the midfielder saw his effort sail a long way over the crossbar from the edge of the box with 10 minutes remaining.
Fulham had the ball in the net when Harrison Reed was left completely free on the right wing and his subsequent cross was turned into his own net by Mings, but the linesman's flag was raised to cut short the celebrations from the travelling support, with replays confirming Reed was clearly offside.
Despite five minutes of added time being played, Fulham were still unable to trouble Emi Martinez's goal, as Villa held on for an underwhelming but comfortable 1-0 victory to extend their unbeaten run to 10 games.
The visitors remain ninth and could slip down a place by the end of the midweek action if Brentford get a result at Stamford Bridge tomorrow.
Villa have a big test ahead of them when they travel to Old Trafford to face Manchester United on Sunday.
Fulham face an even trickier task as they welcome title favourites Manchester City to Craven Cottage at the weekend.
Andrew Delaney
