Dean Smith admitted that Aston Villa were “laboured” at times against Fulham but he was pleased that Trezeguet came on and made the difference.
Fulham had the better chances but the score was still 0-0 by the 60th minute. But the visitors would then grab what could have been a season-defining goal.
Tyrone Mings was sloppy in possession as he could not get enough on his back pass. Aleksandar Mitrovic was there and he rounded Emiliano Martinez to make it 1-0.
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Fulham looked to be heading for victory until Trezeguet and Keinan Davis came on and changed the game.
Mings made up for his earlier mistake as he was the provider for Villa’s equaliser. He squared it into the area and Trezeguet was there to smash it home from inside the area.
Three minutes later, Trezeguet got his second and the Villans were ahead. Davis dispossessed Tosin Adrabioyo in the Fulham half and he advanced towards the penalty area.
The forward chipped it towards the back post and Trezeguet was there to tap it home from close range.
The result was put beyond any doubt in the 86th minute as Ollie Watkins got Villa’s third. Bertrand Traore sent in a low cross towards the striker and he made no mistake from a few yards out.
This victory moves Villa up to ninth in the Premier League. Smith told Sky Sports, as cited by BBC Sport, that all victories are important at this stage of the season:
“I’m not sure [the substitutions] were inspired but they made the impact you want. The minimum you want is for them to run more and faster than the person who’s just come off. Trezeguet has been unfortunate this season, he’s missed a lot of chances, but he’s scored two today and won us the game.
“I thought the performance was a little bit laboured from both teams. There’s a lot of teams battling for performances at the moment. It’s been a long hard season. We were hoping the break had done us good and we showed spells of energy in the first half.
“All results are important, they’re hard to come by in the Premier League and we’ve got a tough game next up against the champions. It was a hard fought win and it’s nice to come back from behind because we haven’t done that this season.”
Smith on Jack Grealish’s fitness: “It only happened yesterday when he was sore, so we’ll probably go and get that scanned and see where he is.”
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