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Pre-match analysis: How can Fulham beat Aston Villa?
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- Pre-match analysis: How can Fulham beat Aston Villa?
Tom Masters previews Fulham's clash with Aston Villa.
Fulham's topsy-turvy season continues as the Cottagers make the trip to Birmingham to face Aston Villa on Saturday night.
It comes after successive wins in the Premier League, which took the Cottagers out of the relegation zone, but also a disappointing loss to Crystal Palace in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday night.
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Villa, meanwhile, have turned a corner in the Premier League themselves, most notably when they defeated Manchester City on Saturday, but also were soundly beaten in the Carabao Cup by Bournemouth .
Fulham will face a harder challenge against Villa than they have in the past two matches, but how can they come out on top and get the all-important win?
Hit the back of the net
The simplest, and yet hardest thing to do in football is score goals.
And Fulham have found that out the hard way in recent weeks, not least against Crystal Palace, where they created enough to comfortably score four or even five goals but failed to score any.
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It raises a serious and important issue around Fulham and actually scoring from the vast amount of chances created.
If Fulham are able to create a significant number of chances at Villa Park, Alvaro Arbeloa will be praying that this time his players are able to actually put the ball into the back of the net, in what has been a frustrating few weeks in that regard.
The Cottagers have to make sure that they are finally at least a little bit ruthless, having failed to be in recent weeks.
Mark Manzambi, Jackson out of the game
It is very clear who Aston Villa's two best players are, with Johan Manzambi and Nicolas Jackson by some distance the two best players in the Villa attack.
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They have clicked in recent weeks too, with both players racking up five goal involvements in their last five Villa matches in all competitions.
Nicolas Jackson has found his form with Aston Villa in recent weeks.
It is going to be a very clear struggle for the Cottagers to keep a clean sheet against a Villa side who have scored 14 goals in six matches this month, but if the likes of Shea Charles, Sander Berge, David Affengruber and co can keep these two quiet, then maybe, just maybe, Fulham will be able to upset the apple cart somewhat.
Keep concentration
There has been an improvement in this area in recent weeks, as Fulham have not conceded any unnecessary goals in the dying embers of matches in the past two Premier League matches.
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Against Villa, they will need to make sure they maintain their concentration right until the final whistle, as Emery's side are one that are capable of scoring at any moment, as they have shown by their goalscoring form in October.
