Three Super Eagles stars feature as Fulham bottle lead in loss to Aston Villa

Super Eagles of Nigeria players Calvin Bassey and Alex Iwobi both started for Fulham against Aston Villa, while Samuel Chukwueze came off the bench, but none of them could save the Cottagers from a 3-1 loss.

Although Fulham took an early lead away from home, hosts Aston Villa responded with three goals to turn the tide in their favour.

Fulham made a dream start when Raúl Jiménez met Saša Lukić’s corner with a superb glancing header inside three minutes, but the Mexican injured himself in the process and was replaced by Adama Traoré.

Josh King’s driving run nearly doubled the lead, only for Emiliano Martínez to deny him. Aston Villa wasted a golden chance to level when John McGinn intercepted Calvin Bassey but missed with only Bernd Leno to beat.

King remained dangerous and had what looked like a clear penalty waved away by the referee after his shot struck Matty Cash’s arm.

Villa eventually equalised through Ollie Watkins, who ended his seven-game goal drought with a clever lob over Leno after latching onto Lucas Digne’s long ball.

Just four minutes into the second half, McGinn redeemed himself with a brilliant low strike to put Villa ahead. Fulham collapsed soon after as Watkins set up Emiliano Buendía for a third.

Lukić almost pulled one back following a Martínez error, but Ezri Konsa produced a vital goalline clearance to preserve the lead.

Villa comfortably saw out the win, their sixth consecutive league victory over Fulham, and their best run against any team since 2010.