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How Aston Villa needed this, a first league victory of the season easing the increased weight of expectation in these parts. A nervy Europa League win over Bologna on Thursday offered a slim platform on which to build but this week Unai Emery reiterated the Premier League remains Villa’s priority. The Villa manager informed his players they had to pick up three points and afterwards grinned as he acknowledged that while they are 16th in the Premier League, the table already makes better viewing. Fulham punished Villa for another flat start with Raúl Jiménez heading in from a corner inside three minutes but Ollie Watkins’ first goal of the season and two strikes across two second-half minutes, courtesy of John Mc Ginn and Emiliano Buendía, earned a comeback victory. “Delighted but relieved, ” was how Mc Ginn put it afterwards and the Villa captain was naturally happy for Watkins after the striker ended his dry run. “He always has a spell in the season when it doesn’t quite click for him, ” Mc Ginn said. “Hopefully that shuts a few people up. ” Prior to his 37th-minute goal, Watkins had had two forgettable touches – as many as Jiménez who was withdrawn nearly half an hour earlier with an injury sustained when he opened the scoring from Sasa Lukic’s corner – and Villa as a team failed to penetrate Fulham. That changed when Lucas Digne pinged a long pass between Calvin Bassey and Joachim Andersen and Watkins spied an opportunity to pounce, deftly looping a bouncing ball over Bernd Leno close to the penalty spot. Bassey charged towards the goalline to clear but his momentum left him tangled in the Fulham net and instead Watkins could finally celebrate his first goal since the second week of May. Now Villa were in their stride, Mc Ginn clipping a breezy pass over the Fulham back line for Morgan Rogers, whose first touch denied him a one on one with Leno. “It is not an easy place to play when the crowd is on your back but then when you get momentum, what a place to play, ” Mc Ginn said. Digne saw a free-kick saved by Leno on the verge of half-time, at which point Emery introduced Buendía in place of the former Fulham midfielder Harvey Elliott, who struggled to impose himself on his first Premier League start for Villa. Emery praised Buendía’s energy and commitment. “He had the possibility to leave [in the summer], but he wanted to stay, ” the Villa manager said. Buendía immediately busied himself and had a hand in Mc Ginn’s strike that gained Villa the lead. Lamare Bogarde, preferred to the fit-again Boubacar Kamara at the base of midfield, harried Adama Traoré, who had replaced Jiménez, and then Buendía shifted the ball to Mc Ginn. The Villa captain had eyes only for goal and buried a left-foot shot into the bottom corner. Two minutes later Buendía added another, prodding in after reading Watkins’ cutback from the left. Emery punched the air incessantly, the frustration flooding out with each celebration. Sign up to Football Daily Kick off your evenings with the Guardian's take on the world of football after newsletter promotion Villa have been anything but watertight of late and there was a customary scare when, a couple of minutes after Buendía’s strike gave Villa breathing space and seconds after Watkins lost his footing when shaping to shoot in the box, Fulham pressed high and the 18-year-old Josh King intercepted Emi Martínez’s loose pass. Traoré located Lukic, whose goal-bound shot was kept out by a desperate Ezri Konsa block. King was outstanding until Watkins’ leveller but was booked for simulation midway through the first half after he sought a penalty having nudged the ball past a panicked Martínez at the end of a scintillating break. King, who was booked for diving against Brentford last weekend in Fulham’s previous league game, appeared to head to ground before Martínez made contact. A minute later a shot was blocked by Matty Cash’s hand, though both Fulham claims were cleared by the video assistant referee, Matt Donohue. A seething Marco Silva was booked for his explicit protests against the referee, Andy Madley, and when asked about the calls afterwards he said: “They [the referees] can write what they want, they can call us and say what they want. I have watched the moments again and for me, they are incredible. ” Silva later denied that King’s previous dive may have created a precedent. “They don’t have a story from Josh King in the Premier League, he’s just turned 18. ”