Fulham have cruised to a 3-0 victory over 10-man Aston Villa at Craven Cottage this evening, piling the pressure on under-fire Villa boss Steven Gerrard.
With speculation over the Liverpool legend's future in the dugout continuing to intensify ahead of the game, Thursday's match took on all the more importance amid rumours of interest in Mauricio Pochettino.
However, it turned into arguably the most abject night of the season so far for Villa as they slumped to a convincing 3-0 defeat against a side with only one win in their last five outings prior to this evening.
Harrison Reed gave the hosts the lead with a well-struck effort from outside the box 10 minutes before half time, but it was the red card shown to Douglas Luiz which perhaps best encapsulated Villa's plight at the moment.
Fresh from signing a new contract at the club, the Brazilian midfielder was adjudged to have headbutted Aleksandar Mitrovic off the ball shortly after the hour mark, with referee Michael Oliver brandishing the straight red card after a very brief look at VAR.
Down a goal and now a man down 😬
— Amazon Prime Video Sport (@primevideosport) October 20, 2022
Douglas Luiz has been shown a red card for this following a VAR review, right decision?#PLonPrime #FULAVL pic.twitter.com/NMSb4smG5P
Mitrovic, who somewhat suckered Luiz into the altercation, then poured salt into the wound by squeezing a penalty past Emiliano Martinez to double the lead, after Matty Cash had handballed inside the area.
After a red card and a penalty, Villa's misery was then rounded off with a own goal to complete the scoring as Tyrone Mings turned the ball into his own net when trying to cut out Neeskens Kebano's cross.
While Gerrard can justifiably point at improved performances in recent weeks and some rotten luck on the night tonight, such a comprehensive defeat away to a promoted side will spark even greater scrutiny over his position as Villa boss with the club now only outside the relegation zone on goals scored.
It is now just one win and five goals in their last nine Premier League games, leaving them 17th in the table.
Fulham, by contrast, climb into the top half of the table courtesy of this win, which ends a three-game winless run and also earns them their first home clean sheet in the top flight since February 2021.
Barney Corkhill
