Villa slump at Fulham to heap pressure on Gerrard

The pressure piled up on Aston Villa manager Steven Gerrard as his listless side slumped to a demoralising 3-0 defeat at Fulham after going down to 10 men in the Premier League on Thursday.

The former England captain endured chants of "getting sacked in the morning" by the home fans and was even abused by the away contingent as Harrison Reed and Aleksandar Mitrovic scored for Fulham before a Tyrone Mings own goal completed Villa's misery.

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Reed's powerfully-struck shot in the 36th minute gave Fulham a deserved lead after they had gone close several times.

Villa's cause was not helped when Douglas Luiz was shown a red card in the 62nd minute for an off-the-ball clash with Mitrovic and Matty Cash conceded a penalty for handball trying to block a shot six minutes later.

Mitrovic converted the spot-kick for his eighth league goal of the season and Villa's night got even worse when Mings deflected a Neeskens Kebano cross into his own net seven minutes from time.

Another goal for Fulham would have seen Villa drop into the bottom three but the fact they did not was scant consolation for Gerrard who looked grim faced as he walked off.

Villa have nine points from 11 games and are above 18th-placed Wolverhampton Wanderers by virtue of goals scored.

For Marco Silva's Fulham the picture looks far brighter as they climbed to ninth spot with 15 points thanks to their biggest win in the Premier League for nine years.

Gerrard took charge at Villa after Dean Smith's sacking last November but whether he marks his one-year anniversary, or even remains in charge for the weekend clash with Brentford, is looking increasingly doubtful.

Many Villa fans turned their ire on Gerrard who made no attempt to sugar-coat his position.

"I thought I picked a team that could build on the performance [against Chelsea] at the weekend, but I got the opposite," Gerrard told Amazon Prime.

"We were second best for the majority of the first half and were lucky to still be in the game at half-time, it was down to out keeper making some outstanding saves.

"The performance was nowhere near good enough."

Villa began slowly and the London side were far more hungry throughout.

Willian forced a great save from Emiliano Martinez before Fulham went ahead when the keeper punched a corner out to Reed who took a touch and smashed a shot into the net.

Villa looked capable of salvaging something but not after Luiz appeared to push his head towards Mitrovic who collapsed to the ground theatrically.

After checking a VAR screen, referee Michael Oliver showed the red card to Luiz.

Cash stretched to block a Mitrovic shot but the ball struck his arm and Martinez could not save the Serbian's penalty.

Villa were deflated before Mings's own goal completed their misery.

"Tonight was a tough night for me personally," Gerrard said. "We will see what happens but I understands the situation we are in."