By Betsefy
Fulham have cruised to a 3-0 victory over 10-man Aston Villa at Craven Cottage this evening, piling the pressure on underfire Villa boss Steven Gerrard.
With speculation over the Liverpool legend’s future in the dugout continuing to intensify ahead of the game, Thursday’s match took on all the more importance amid rumours of interest in Mauricio Pochettino.
However, it turned into arguably the most abject night of the season so far for Villa as they slumped to a convincing 3-0 defeat against a side with only one win in their last five outings prior to this evening.
Harrison Reed gave the hosts the lead with a deflected effort 10 minutes before half time, but it was the red card shown to Douglas Luiz which perhaps best encapsulated Villa’s plight at the moment.
Fresh from signing a new contract at the club, the Brazilian midfielder was adjudged to have headbutted Aleksandar Mitrovic off the ball shortly after the hour mark, with referee Michael Oliver brandishing the straight red card after a very brief look at VAR.
Mitrovic, who somewhat suckered Luiz into the altercation, then poured salt into the wound by squeezing a penalty past Emiliano Martinez to double the lead, after Matty Cash had handballed inside the area.
After a deflected goal, a red card and a penalty, Villa’s misery was then rounded off with a own goal to complete the scoring as Tyrone Mings turned the ball into his own net when trying to cut out Neeskens Kebano‘s cross.
While Gerrard can justifiably point at improved performances in recent weeks and some rotten luck on the night tonight, such a comprehensive defeat away to a promoted side will spark even greater scrutiny over his position as Villa boss with the club now only outside the relegation zone on goals scored.
More to follow.
