Aston Villa and Blackburn have secured the points in their Premiership tussles with Fulham and West Ham respectively. Villa maintained their unbeaten start to their campaign with a 2-0 victory over Fulham at Villa Park this evening. John Gregory's side made the breakthrough shortly after the break when Mustapha Hadji's cross was swept home by England under-21 striker Darius Vassell. The home side's lead was doubled on the hour when substitute Ian Taylor latched on to a pass from Angel to slot past the advancing Edwin van der Sar. The Birmingham side are now up to fourth place in the Premiership table, just three points behind league leaders Leeds United.
Earlier today, Blackburn Rovers put on a scintillating attacking display to blitz West Ham 7-1 at Ewood. Graeme Souness' side clicked into overdrive to increase the pressure on beleaguered Hammers boss Glenn Roeder. Garry Flitcroft, David Dunn, Damien Johnson, Tugay, Matt Jansen, Craig Hignett and an own goal by Grant McCann ensured an emphatic victory for the home side, on a day when the club unveiled a statue of former owner Jack Walker before kick-off. West Ham scored a consolation goal through Michael Carrick.
"We played some good stuff – maybe the keeper could have done better with one of the goals but there were some excellent goals today. We've been threatening to score a lot of goals – and we took our chances today," said Blackburn manager Graeme Souness afterwards.
Filed by Tom Grealis
