00:00Good evening from Villa Park. Well, who knew that football could be so entertaining after a really dismal start to the season, which put a lot of people to sleep.
00:11Villa really came to life today against Fulham. They won 3-1 for their first Premier League victory of the season.
00:17And they did it in impressive fashion as well. They've got a lot of character going behind early to a Raul Jimenez header in the third minute.
00:24And Fulham being the better side for much of the first half, and Villa struggling to get going in attack.
00:30And then Ollie Watkins really sparked the fight back with his first Premier League goal of the season, full stop.
00:38A beautiful lob after a mistake, admittedly, in the Fulham defence. They failed to do with a simple long ball from Luca Dean.
00:46But a great finish from Watkins, considering he's been so out of form and so lacking in confidence.
00:51Just, what, 72 hours earlier, less than 72 hours earlier, missing a penalty on Thursday night.
00:57So, a real confidence booster for him to get the goal. And Villa, you know, they suddenly looked like their old selves.
01:04A surprise change at half-time. Harvey Elliott being in the team for the first time in a start for a Premier League game for Villa was a big talking point before the game.
01:14He was interviewed on the pitch by Sky. But he only lasted the first half.
01:18Amy Buendia comes on. Perhaps a few raised eyebrows. But within six minutes, Amy Buendia had set up John McGinn, or played a part in John McGinn.
01:26John McGinn's goal to put Villa ahead. And then scored himself for the first time in the Premier League since March 2023.
01:33A fine goal from McGinn. Great strike to put Villa ahead. And then Buendia, scoring from close range, made it 3-1.
01:40And that was enough. You know, it wasn't perfect, but it was more like Uno Emery's Aston Villa, where they just came to life for 10-15 minutes and overpowered the opponents.
01:50They did it so often last season. And this is the first time this season we've really seen it.
01:55Obviously, they've only scored one Premier League goal in five games. They scored three in 14 minutes here.
02:00Still plenty to work on. But the feeling that a corner has been turned these last few days.
02:06When you think about a week ago, Uno Emery called the players lazy at Sunderland.
02:12Confidence was on the floor. Huge amount of optimism, or certainly more optimism now, about Villa going forward than there was before.
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