Aston Villa hope to increase their chances of qualifying for the Champions League this season after hosting their direct competitor Fulham in round 35.
Unai Emery's side will head into the Villa Park game with just three points behind fifth-placed Chelsea. Meanwhile, Fulham is in eighth place and is also trying to qualify for the European Cup next season.
Villa has been left out of the FA Cup semi-finals by Crystal Palace, but will look to return at Villa Park. The home stadium has been considered a solid fortress of Villa over the years. They are unbeaten in their last 16 home Premier League games (W9 D7). since losing to Arsenal in the opening game of the season.
This is Villa's second long unbeaten streak in the Premier League, all of which have come under coach Emery. They have also gone 17 games unbeaten between March and December 2023.
However, Villa was defeated 2-1 by Manchester City in the most recent round, thereby ending a 5-match winning streak. They have only lost two consecutive games in the last two seasons, last November against Liverpool and Tottenham.
Emery is eagerly waiting for Ollie Watkins to return soon, especially when Marcus Rashford may be out for the rest of the season. 13 of Watkins' 15 goals in the Premier League this season have put Villa ahead or level the score.
Another Villa regular, John McGinn, could reach his 200th Premier League appearance. The midfielder will be the 10th player to reach that milestone for Emery's side.
For Fulham, Marco Silva's team is entering a tense battle for a place in the European Cup, along with Brentford, Bournemouth and Brighton. Therefore, they will want to leave Villa Park with more than 1 point.
No of Fulham's last 14 Premier League games have ended in draws (W7 L7). Their last two wins came against champions Liverpool (3-2) and bottom-placed Southampton (2-1).
Regarding Fulham's personnel, Antonee Robinson will be assessed for his fitness after being absent in the 2-1 victory over Southampton. Meanwhile, Rodrigo Muniz and Reiss Nelson will definitely be absent due to long-term injury problems.
Head-to-head record
Fulham could have a hard time at Aston Villa's home ground. They have won just one of their last 20 away games against Villa (D7 L12). Notably, Fulham have lost five consecutive games at Villa Park since a 2-1 win in April 2014.
In fact, Villa have won 6 of their last 7 Premier League matches against Fulham, including 4 consecutive matches in the past 4 matches. The exception was the 0-3 away loss in October 2022.
Notably, Emery has won all 6 of his most recent Premier League matches against Fulham. There are only 4 cases where a coach leads more matches with a 100% chance of winning against their opponent. They are Pep Guardiola with Watford (10/10), Guardiola with Fulham (9/9), Jose Mourinho with Portsmouth (7/7) and Roberto Mancini with Wigan Athletic (7/7).
Score prediction
Opta predict Aston Villa will have a 52% chance of winning this match. Fulham's figure is only 24.3%, the remaining 23.7% is the possibility of the two teams sharing points.
Predicted result: Aston Villa 2-1 Fulham
The match between Aston Villa and Fulham takes place at 6:30 p.m. on March 3 (Vietnam time).
