Aston Villa - 3 Fulham - 0 It says much about the competitive nature of the Premiership this season that this straightforward win should leave an improving Aston Villa only four points short of a Fulham team which began the day in fourth position.
Or perhaps that should be general mediocrity. "One month you're being tipped for relegation, the next people are talking about Europe, that's how bunched up we are," said Villa's manager David O'Leary, with something of a shrug. "Our ambition remains simple: to survive."
It is an aim that on the evidence of a stirring second-half display, during which Darius Vassell scored his first Premiership goals here this season, should surely be achieved.
After Fulham made the better start, Villa pinched a goal through the opportunism of Juan Pablo Angel and then went on to dominate as, for perhaps the first time since Chris Coleman took charge, Fulham gave up the ghost.
Early on, Alain Goma had already headed a Junichi Inamoto corner just wide when only an extraordinary and slightly fortunate reaction save by the Villa goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen prevented Steed Malbranque putting the visitors into the lead from the six-yard line.
A minute later Edwin van der Sar deserved similar praise after pushing an Angel volley round the post. In both cases the man shooting had been unmarked and Villa learned the lesson. Fulham, surprisingly, did not.
The result was that shortly after the half-hour, and somewhat against the run of play, Villa took the lead when Jlloyd Samuel, breaking down the left after catching Moritz Volz in possession, sent a low, curling cross into the penalty area.
Angel, having stolen a yard on Zat Knight, turned it past van der Sar. It was the Colombian's 13th goal of the season and his sixth in his last seven games.
The effect on Villa was remarkable. They began to play with much more freedom and invention - Gareth Barry in particular - and with Gavin McCann winning more than his share of possession in midfield, the visitors were forced on to the back foot.
McCann's run and shot after the half-hour presaged a period of sustained pressure and soon after half-time Peter Whittingham should have doubled the lead after bursting into the penalty area. Then Barry volleyed a Vassell cross straight at van der Sar before, to Coleman's disgust, Samuel was again allowed to make ground down the left. He hit a long, deep cross which Vassell volleyed under the badly exposed Fulham goalkeeper.
It was a neat finish but, given the time taken for the cross to drop, Vassell should have been under pressure by the time the ball arrived.
At the other end Louis Saha continued to work hard but without support could make little impression.
Angel, whose every touch breathed class, had limped off when Vassell got a second in similar fashion, this time converting a cross from Thomas Hitzlsperger.
