Aston Villa beat Fulham 3-1 for first Premier League win of the season

By Canadian Press on September 28, 2025.

MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Aston Villa won for the first time in the Premier League this season on Sunday with a 3-1 victory against Fulham.

Two goals in as many minutes in the second half at Villa Park sealed the comeback win after Fulham had taken an early lead through Raul Jimenez.

Ollie Watkins leveled the game before halftime and John McGinn and Emiliano Buendia struck shortly after the break to help Villa to a league win at the sixth time of asking at the start of the season.

Victory provided relief for coach Unai Emery, who has endured a difficult start to the campaign. The Spaniard, who led Villa to Champions League qualification in his first full season in charge and into the Europa League last term, has found his team battling at the wrong end of the standings in the opening weeks of this campaign after two losses and three draws.

And when Jimenez headed Fulham in front in the third minute, it looked like being another frustrating day.

But Watkins scored his first goal of the season by lobbing Fulham goalkeeper Bernd Leno in the 37th.

McGinn drove a low shot from around 20 yards (meters) into the bottom corner four minutes into the second half and Buendia fired in from close range two minutes later.

Newcastle was playing Arsenal later in the day.

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James Robson is at https://twitter.com/jamesalanrobson

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

James Robson, The Associated Press