Fulham 2-0 Aston Villa

Ryan Sessegnon is Fulham's top goalscorer this season, netting his 12th of the season against Villa

Fulham made it 10 league games unbeaten and boosted their Championship promotion hopes by ending Aston Villa's seven-match winning run in the league.

After a tight first half it took just seven minutes after the break for Ryan Sessegnon to sweep the hosts in front.

Floyd Ayite made it 2-0, controlling keeper Sam Johnstone's poor free-kick from out wide and firing into an empty net from inside the centre circle.

Villa slipped a place to third with the loss, while Fulham stayed fifth.

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Victory extended Fulham's home run to seven consecutive wins, while they have also scored 14 goals in their past four matches at Craven Cottage.

Both teams came into the game in form and full of goals but, the absence of Jack Grealish and leading scorer Albert Adomah, Villa's attacking options seemed blunted and Fulham capitalised.

The first half was a low-key affair, Conor Hourihane and Scott Hogan firing over the bar for the visitors, while Fulham striker Aleksandar Mitrovic, on loan from Newcastle United, was a lively presence without threatening the goal.

However, once Fulham had broken the deadlock, they were the side in control.

Steve Bruce's Villa dropped Championship points for the first time in 2018 and therefore were overhauled by Cardiff, who beat Middlesbrough to go second.

Fulham manager Slavisa Jokanovic:

"We played with confidence, but we cannot think the job is done. We must show solidarity and work together.

"All the squad will be needed, not just the players who started today, but those on the bench and in the stand.

"In the second half we tried something a little bit different, we scored two goals and we could have scored some more. We must be satisfied with our performance, we played very good football, (but) it is only three points."

Aston Villa manager Steve Bruce told BBC WM:

"I didn't think there was anything in it. It was a tense game with two very good teams for the first 60 minutes.

"It was always going to be the first goal (that was likely to decide the game) and we're disappointed because we know they're very good down the flanks in particular, they're quick in wide areas and we've been done down the wide area..

"We've made a mistake for the first and a mistake for the second. We've made more mistakes today than we've probably done in six weeks, but that's football."