Aston Villa v Fulham

From a chapel cricket team to FA Cup winners in thirteen years; Villa's ambitions were never small.

Members of the Villa Cross Wesleyan Chapel cricket team in Aston, Birmingham, formed a football club on 21 November 1874. Within a decade, Villa had become one of the strongest sides in the Midlands, reaching the FA Cup final in 1887 and winning it, beating West Bromwich Albion 2-0. The club was a founding member of the Football League in 1888.

Craven Cottage has been Fulham's riverside home since 1896; older than the club's own Football League membership by over a decade.

Originally founded as St Andrew's Cricket and Football Club in 1879, the club became Fulham St Andrew's in 1887 before settling on Fulham Football Club in 1888. They moved to Craven Cottage on the banks of the Thames in 1896, a ground that remains their home to this day. Fulham spent their early years in the Southern League before being elected to the Football League in 1907.

A Victorian pleasure ground traded its fairground rides for football's finest address in 1897.

Villa moved to the Aston Lower Grounds in 1897, a site that would become Villa Park. The ground had previously been part of a Victorian amusement park. By the turn of the century, Villa had won five League Championships and three FA Cups, establishing themselves as one of English football's powerhouses. The stadium grew steadily, hosting its first FA Cup semi-final in 1901.

Villa's first relegation handed them a new rivalry; humility, it turns out, breeds great fixtures.

Fulham were elected to the Football League's Second Division in 1907, setting the stage for competitive meetings with Aston Villa. The two clubs first met in league competition during the 1928-29 season, when Villa were relegated to the Second Division for the first time in their history. It was a humbling period for Villa, but it created a fixture that would recur across the decades as both clubs moved between divisions.

Villa put Manchester United to the sword at Wembley in 1957, winning the FA Cup 2-1 while Fulham were quietly building a First Division reputation of their own.

The late 1950s saw both clubs in the top flight simultaneously. Villa won the FA Cup in 1957, beating Manchester United 2-1 at Wembley. Fulham, meanwhile, had earned promotion to the First Division in 1949 and were establishing themselves as a credible top-flight side, with Johnny Haynes becoming the first £100-a-week footballer in 1961. Meetings between the two during this era drew healthy crowds at both Villa Park and Craven Cottage.

From the Third Division to the European Cup in ten years; that is not a revival, it is a transformation.

Villa's greatest night came on 26 May 1982 in Rotterdam, when Peter Withe's goal secured a 1-0 victory over Bayern Munich in the European Cup final. It remains one of the most remarkable achievements in English football history. A club that had been in the Third Division just a decade earlier stood as champions of Europe. That triumph still defines the ambition at Villa Park and separates Villa from most of their Premier League contemporaries.

Thirty-three years away from the top flight, ended by one ambitious owner and a title-winning season.

Mohamed Al-Fayed's takeover of Fulham in 1997 transformed the club. Under Jean Tigana, Fulham won the First Division title in 2000-01 and returned to the top flight for the first time since 1968. This renewed the Premier League fixture between Villa and Fulham, with both clubs now regular members of the division. Fulham's run to the 2010 Europa League final under Roy Hodgson showed the Cottagers could compete on the European stage too.

Four decades of waiting ended when Emery steered Villa back into Champions League football for the first time since 1983.

The appointment of Unai Emery as Villa manager in October 2022 marked a turning point. The former Villarreal and Arsenal boss galvanised the squad, guiding Villa to a seventh-place finish in his first season and then to a historic fourth-place finish in 2023-24, securing Champions League qualification for the first time since 1983. Meanwhile, Fulham under Marco Silva established themselves as a settled Premier League side, making this fixture a regular feature of the calendar once more.

European football returned to Villa Park for the first time in over four decades; the wait, it seems, was worth every year.

Villa's 2024-25 Champions League campaign saw them compete against Europe's elite at Villa Park for the first time in over 40 years. Fulham, now owned by Shahid Khan since 2013, continued to consolidate their Premier League status under Marco Silva. The fixture between these two historic clubs carries a renewed energy: Villa with European ambitions, Fulham with the stability and investment to push for the upper reaches of the table. Villa Park on matchday remains one of the finest settings in English football to watch it unfold.