Aston Villa might have had an apology from Jamie Carragher but Unai Emery’s men found Fulham far more awkward opponents on a difficult night at Villa Park.

After Villa had threatened legal action, the Sky Sports pundit said sorry for telling ‘Aston Villa fans’ to ‘shut the f*** up’ on Saturday. The Holte End let Carragher know what they thought of him within a minute here.

Unfortunately for Villa, Fulham were in no mood to back down as Carragher had. John McGinn missed a penalty for the home side early on and though Nicolas Jackson gave them a half-time lead, Fulham deservedly equalised when Zion Suzuki – outstanding until then – carried Alex Iwobi’s corner over his own line. 

Though Villa were very poor in the second half, this remains a team in transition and there will be bumps in the road. And thanks to the dispute with Carragher, the main talking point on Saturday was away from the pitch.

Why did Villa take this step?

Villa have been mocked for this response but look at it from their point of view. The club feel that at every turn, the established order are trying to slow their progress.

Consider the financial regulations that favour historically wealthy clubs who make money off the pitch, over those who have started to succeed on it.

Imagine the frustration of finishing fourth in the Premier League, winning the Europa League and then having to sell six starters from the Final.

Now he has to listen to ex-players with significant influence telling the world that Villa can never satisfy Emery’s ambition.

Carragher is probably guilty of nothing more than expressing an opinion, however crudely he may have done so. But if Sawiris is fed up of various voices and organisations trying to put Villa back in their box, who can blame him?

Impressive Fulham

Whenever Antonee Robinson charged down the Fulham left, Villa were in trouble. The US international had a superb match but until his error, the visitors found Suzuki in excellent form.

He made one outstanding stop from Oscar Bobb and produced decisive interventions to deny Gonzalo Garcia, Josh King and Alex Iwobi.

There is plenty of technical ability in this side and when they move forward they are great to watch. But Garcia does not look a ruthless finisher in the style of Jackson and he missed chances here. At the back, too, they look flimsy. As well as Jackson took his goal, the challenges from Timothy Castagne and David Affengruber were weak.

Yet in Josh King and Oscar Bobb they have twinkle-toed attackers capable of threatening any defence. After a poor start to his tenure, it looks as though Alvaro Arbeloa is starting to find his range at Craven Cottage and had they won here, it would have been fully merited.

No rest for the wicked

Villa would certainly have settled for Champions League fixture pile-ups ten years ago, when they were eking out a 1-1 draw at rivals Birmingham in the Championship, but their recent schedule has been unforgiving.

With Villa facing Barca at the Nou Camp on Tuesday, the Fulham game was brought forward from 2pm on Sunday to the late fixture on Saturday. That is exactly 72 hours after the Carabao Cup defeat to Bournemouth, and 72 before they face the Spanish champions. 

Given Villa made several changes at Bournemouth, surely there was a case making this a 12.30pm kick-off, or even a 3pm kick-off on Saturday? Given the short turnaround before facing one of Europe’s strongest sides, Villa will be glad to have won their opening three games. 

That gives them a clear shot at the last 16, either by qualifying directly or through the play-offs. Barcelona also opted not to rest players and fielded a strong side against Alaves in La Liga on Saturday, which was also an 8pm kick-off. 

The bad news is that Hansi Flick’s side were 4-0 up at half-time and went on to win 6-1. If Fulham were able to cause Villa this much trouble with sharp passing and movement, what about the club most associated with those qualities? 

Emery and his squad will certainly travel to Barcelona a little nervously on Monday afternoon.