Aston Villa registered their 13th Premier League home win on the bounce as Unai Emery’s men beat Fulham 3-1.
Villa were two goals up at the break following an Antonee Robinson own-goal and a strike from skipper John McGinn.
Fulham came close early in the second half when Emiliano Martinez tipped a Raul Jimenez shot against a post before Ollie Watkins added a third for the hosts with a 64th-minute finish.
Jimenez pulled a goal back for the visitors, but Villa were not to be denied as they equalled the post-war club record for successive top-flight home victories, matching the 13 in a row achieved in 1983.
Emery’s side have scored at least three times in each of their Villa Park wins this season, with the total being 23 goals for the midlands outfit across the six games.
It was also a return to winning ways in the league after last Sunday’s 2-0 loss at Nottingham Forest, since when they had defeated AZ Alkmaar 2-1 at home in the Europa Conference League.
While fifth-placed Villa are a point outside the top four, Marco Silva’s Fulham are 16th after their winless run in the league extended to a fourth game.
The home side made a lively start to the contest and after Moussa Diaby had a sixth-minute effort saved by Bernd Leno, another Villa attack moments later saw Watkins’ shot come off Timothy Castagne and referee Simon Hooper award a penalty.
However, VAR intervened and with Hooper having surveyed footage pitchside, the handball decision was overturned.
Martinez was then called into action to keep out an Andreas Pereira strike, although the flag was up for offside, before Emery’s men pushed forward again and took the lead in the 27th minute.
Youri Tielemans, making his first league start for Villa, curled a delivery from the left towards Diaby and the ball went off Robinson into the net – the defender’s second own-goal of the season, having also scored one in Fulham’s win against Sheffield United last month.
As Villa sought a second, Matty Cash was denied by Leno, and the advantage was doubled in the 42nd minute as McGinn collected the ball from a Robinson header, took a touch to move away from Joao Palhinha and fired in from just outside the box.
Fulham started well after the interval and almost reduced the deficit three minutes in when a Martinez touch diverted Jimenez’s strike against a post, with Willian shooting over on the follow-up.
There was also a shot just wide of the near post from Willian, but soon after Villa made it 3-0 as Leon Bailey, just off the bench, crossed and Watkins sidefooted in his 11th club goal of the season in all competitions.
Jimenez produced a similar finish, teed up by Robinson in the 70th minute, to open his Fulham account – his first Premier League goal since March 2022.
Substitute Carlos Vinicius thought he had scored another for Fulham in the 81st minute when he went around Martinez and slotted in, but he was flagged offside, before the ball hit the Fulham bar off Palhinha and Watkins headed the loose ball wide when looking certain to score – a surprising miss that mattered little come the final whistle.
Spain's Williams pledges to fight racism as lifetime goal
Nico Williams holds fighting against racism as his sole lifetime goal amid continued issues with such abuse in Spain.
The Athletic Bilbao forward was subject to racial abuse away to Atletico Madrid last season, leading Spain's footballing authorities to force a partial closure of their south stand for two matches.
Vinicius Junior has suffered similar targeting for Atletico's fierce rivals Real Madrid, with the Brazilian suggesting Spain should be stripped of the honour in hosting the 2030 World Cup unless progress is made.
The Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) has attempted numerous anti-racism measures in an effort to clamp down on the issue, while Spanish court made history by issuing the first criminal conviction for racial insults in a football stadium in June.
Williams will not be satisfied until the abuse is erased entirely, however, as the Spain winger – whose brother Inaki plays for Ghana and alongside him at club level – pledged to continue in the much-needed fight.
"My brother and I, as black people, have an important task in this life, which is the fight against racism," Williams said in an interview with Spanish media outlet El Mundo.
"It's my number one goal. As a public figure, in order to contribute to that fight, I cannot be sidetracked or become a freak and not have my feet on the ground."
The issues remain prevalent in Spain – a Mallorca fan was issued a 12-month suspended prison sentence for racially insulting Vinicius and Villarreal's Samuel Chukwueze in September.
"I think that Spain is moving forward on the right path and we must continue like this. I am very happy to see that progress is being made," Williams added.
"There are always people who try to sell another image of immigrants, but they are a minority."
Williams attracted attention from Barcelona and a host of European giants after playing a decisive role in Spain's victory at Euro 2024.
The 22-year-old believes his efforts with the national team embody a multicultural Spain, having been born in the country to Ghanaian parents, with his brother Inaki opting to play for his home country.
"It is important to make everyone aware that many people come to Spain to earn their bread, to try to achieve a future that they do not have in their countries and to give a better life to their children," he continued.
"My family did that journey. I am going to try to do everything in my power so that these people can have a better life."
St. Benedict’s College strengthens lead atop SSFL Premier Division to six points after 2-0 win over East Mucurapo Secondary
A brace from captain Derrel Garcia propelled ten-man St Benedict's College to a 2-0 victory over East Mucurapo Secondary School to strengthen their lead atop the Premier Division of the Secondary Schools Football League at the Queen’s Royal College Ground, Serpentine Road, Port-of-Spain on Saturday.
Garcia’s first goal came in the 59th minute as he quickly latched on to a Cam'Ron Burke pass before unleashing a right-footed shot from 20-yards out that beat Mucurapo goalkeeper Orlando Francis.
The former Trinidad & Tobago youth player got his second goal of the game nine minutes from full time with a brilliantly placed strike from just outside the box after beating two defenders.
The win instead ensured that St. Benedict's College maintained a six-point advantage at the top while defending champions Fatima College played to 2-2 draw with Speyside at their home ground on Mucurapo Road, Port-of-Spain.
The other results on Saturday were as follows:
Malick Secondary 1-3 Presentation College
Fatima College 2-2 Speyside Secondary
Miracle Ministries Pentecostal High 1-1 Signal Hill Secondary
Naparima College 2-0 St Mary's College
St Anthony's College 4-1 Queen’s Royal College
St Augustine Secondary 1-1 San Juan North Secondary
Trinity College 1-1 Arima North Secondary
St. Benedict’s lead the 16-team table with 28 points from 10 games, six ahead of Presentation in second and eight ahead of defending champions Fatima College in third.
St. Anthony’s and Arima North close out the top five with 18 points each while the top 10 is rounded out by Naparima (15 points), St. Augustine (14 points), QRC (13 points), Malick (11 points) and San Juan North (10 points).
St. Mary’s (10 points), Signal Hill (9 points), Trinity East (7 points), Speyside (6 points), East Mucurapo (6 points) and Miracle Ministries (4 points) round out the points standings.
Clarke aiming to prove Scotland doubters wrong against in-form Portugal
Steve Clarke is aiming to prove the doubters wrong when Scotland welcome Portugal to Hampden Park in their Nations League clash on Tuesday.
Scotland sit bottom of Group A1 after losing all three of their matches in the competition, the latest of which came in a 2-1 defeat to Croatia in Zagreb.
The loss saw Clarke's side extend their longest winless run in competitive matches in their history to nine (D3 L6), while they have now lost four consecutive games for the first time in five years.
Scotland's recent run of form includes their dismal showing at Euro 2024, as they failed to reach the knockout stages for a sixth time at a major tournament, picking up just one point from their three games in Germany, though Clarke remains optimistic.
"It's a tough moment, no doubt about it, but we believe in ourselves," Clarke told BBC Sport.
"After 20 years in the international wilderness, this group has got to two major tournaments and been promoted to the top level of the Nations League, so I don't understand why there would be doubts.
"We have to believe in what we are doing and when I look at the players on the pitch, I believe in what we're doing.
"The players understand where we are in the process, and they are ready to go again.
"They understand that we are playing difficult opponents, and they understand the squad could be stronger.
"I don't speak about that too much, since we have to concentrate on who we have here.
"We have to go out against Portugal, and we know we have to be good at everything we do in the game."
But in aiming to rediscover that winning feeling, they face an uphill task against a Portugal side who have won each of their last seven competitive away games by an aggregate score of 22-1.
Scotland have also lost each of their last four matches against the Selecao, with the Scots only currently on a longer run of defeats against Belgium and Brazil (both six).
But one positive from their display against Croatia was the performance of Ben Doak.
At 18 years and 336 days old, Doak became the youngest player to start a competitive match for Scotland since Willie Johnston against Poland in 1965 (18 years and 298 days) against Croatia.
However, Clarke stressed the importance of not piling too much pressure onto the youngster's shoulders so early into his international career.
"We're already starting to grow the next generation of players," Clarke said.
"As well as trying to be good now, I’m trying to leave a group who are ready to carry on. We don't want 20 years after this group without the success we all want.
"We want Ben to be a talent for the next 15 years, not 15 months, so don't put too much pressure on him.
"He's a young man, he will make mistakes in the game, he will do really good things in the game.
"We need to get the balance right between giving Ben the opportunity to play, which he's more than capable of taking, and protecting him a bit, make sure we don't overhype."
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