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Tom Cairney’s first half strike sees ten-man Fulham promoted to the Premier League through the play off for the first time.
Ryan Sessegnon drifted into a central area and slotted the ball to Cairney who drifted behind Alan Hutton and slotted the ball in with a very precise finish from inside the box.
Having been booked in the first half, Denis Odoi made his team defend their lead with ten men for the last 20 minutes when he picked up a second card for a foul on Jack Grealish.
Fulham were perhaps lucky to keep all ten players on the pitch in the first after Ryan Fredericks appeared to tread on Jack Grealish when he was on the ground, but the referee did not see.
Lots of what Villa did well came through Grealish and after the break they looked a much better side.
Grealish almost scored on of the great goals when he wriggled through three challenges with the kind of skill you associate with Lionel Messi or Mohamad Salah. When he got into the box his shot from the left side was saved.
The young Villain became just that when Grealish lunged in on Cairney, and was lucky to just receive a yellow card.
Aston Villa vs Fulham: Championship play-off final player ratingsShow all 23 1 /23Aston Villa vs Fulham: Championship play-off final player ratings Aston Villa vs Fulham: Championship play-off final player ratings Aston Villa vs Fulham: Championship play-off final player ratings
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Aston Villa vs Fulham: Championship play-off final player ratings Sam Johnstone - 6 out of 10 Could do very little about Cairney’s opening goal. Got in a mix up with Chester which almost allowed Mitroic to get in behind. Poor distribution did not help his side either.
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Aston Villa vs Fulham: Championship play-off final player ratings Ahmed Elmohamady - 6 Played despite missing the second leg of the semi-final with a hamstring injury. Did well to deal with Sessegnon.
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Aston Villa vs Fulham: Championship play-off final player ratings James Chester - 5 Shown a yellow card in the eighth minute for a late, needless tackle on Mitrovic. Poor defending throughout.
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Aston Villa vs Fulham: Championship play-off final player ratings John Terry - 5 Beaten in the air on several occasions by Mitrovic. Was pulled out of position by Fulham’s fluid movement.
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Aston Villa vs Fulham: Championship play-off final player ratings Alan Hutton - 3 Got caught ball watching which allowed Cairney to sneak behind him and open the scoring. Largely vacant at left back. A very poor performance.
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Aston Villa vs Fulham: Championship play-off final player ratings Mile Jedinak - 5 Patrolled the middle and put in some robust challenges to break up play.
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Aston Villa vs Fulham: Championship play-off final player ratings Robert Snodgrass - 5 Poor delivery from most set-pieces and a far from satisfactory final ball meant it was an unhappy return to Wembley for Snodgrass who was promoted with Hull in 2016.
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Aston Villa vs Fulham: Championship play-off final player ratings Conor Hourihane - 5 Most the game bypassed the central midfielder. No influence.
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Aston Villa vs Fulham: Championship play-off final player ratings Jack Grealish - 7 Almost scored on of the greatest solo goals you will see then almost got sent off. He wriggled through three challenges with sublime close control then forced a save at the near post. Anthony Taylor showed mercy when he chose yellow not red after Grealish left a nasty tackle on Cairney.
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Aston Villa vs Fulham: Championship play-off final player ratings Albert Adomah - 5 Produced some good crosses but he is capable of better than what he showed.
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Aston Villa vs Fulham: Championship play-off final player ratings Lewis Grabban - 5 Attempted to hold the ball up when Villa went long from the back. Some of his shielding was useful but Villa struggled to get numbers around him and therefore he proved ineffective.
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Aston Villa vs Fulham: Championship play-off final player ratings Marcus Bettinell - 6 Had a some of tense moments when a couple of his passes out the back were intercepted but it was a mostly good performance by the goalkeeper.
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Aston Villa vs Fulham: Championship play-off final player ratings Ryan Fredericks - 5 Perhaps lucky to stay on the pitch after appearing to tread on Grealish when the Villa player was on the floor. Started to defensively struggle when Villa loaded his side of the pitch after the break.
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Aston Villa vs Fulham: Championship play-off final player ratings Denis Odoi - 3 Booked in the first half for an unnecessary yellow card which came back to haunt him in the 70th minute when he brought down Grealish on the break. His red card left Fulham fighting to hold on for 20 minutes.
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Aston Villa vs Fulham: Championship play-off final player ratings Tim Ream - 8 His play from the back and his command in defence was fantastic. No wonder the Fulham fans, who filled Wembley with shouts of ‘REAM’, love him.
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Aston Villa vs Fulham: Championship play-off final player ratings Matt Targett - 6 Defended well and was very impressive going forward. The accuracy of his crosses to Mitrovic was problematic for Villa.
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Aston Villa vs Fulham: Championship play-off final player ratings Tom Cairney - 8 Showed composure to tuck Sessegnon’s pass beneath the rushing goalkeeper to score sixth and most important goal of the season.
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Aston Villa vs Fulham: Championship play-off final player ratings Kevin McDonald - 6 Industrious performance in central midfield without fireworks.
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Aston Villa vs Fulham: Championship play-off final player ratings Stefan Johansen - 7 Some nice link up play to transition play from the middle to the attack.
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Aston Villa vs Fulham: Championship play-off final player ratings Aboubakar Kamara - 7 Had the better of Hutton but often fell short when providing quality with his final pass or shot. Improved as the game became more stretched and was useful on the counter attack.
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Aston Villa vs Fulham: Championship play-off final player ratings Aleksandar Mitrovic - 7 Mitovic’s link up play around the edge of the area made him very tricky for Terry or Chester to mark.
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Aston Villa vs Fulham: Championship play-off final player ratings Ryan Sessegnon - 7 Drifted in from the left channel to find Cairney with a crafted through pass his captain would have been proud of producing himself.
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Here’s how we rated the players at Wembley .
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