Unai Emery proud of Aston Villa after moving up to fifth with win over Fulham

Unai Emery said his Aston Villa side should be "proud" of their win over Fulham on Tuesday night after a 1-0 victory at Villa Park moved the club up to fifth in the Premier League table.

Defender Tyrone Mings scored the only goal of the game in the 21st minute during a first half the hosts completely dominated. Fulham improved after the break but were unable to break down a resolute Villa defence as the hosts continued their remarkable revival under Emery.

Sat 15th in the table when the Spaniard took charge of his first game at the start of November, Villa have since won 12 of 19 to surge into Europa League contention. Villa are fifth in the standings, one point ahead of sixth-placed Tottenham, whose game in hand is against Manchester United on Thursday, and four clear of Liverpool in seventh albeit having played two matches more.

“I’m very happy to enjoy the moment with our supporters here at home,” Emery said. “I remember when we had home matches against Leicester and Arsenal and we conceded four goals in each match. It was a very upsetting moment.

“We came back trying to be strong defensively and we won 1-0 against Crystal Palace, 3-0 Bournemouth, 2-0 Nottingham, 3-0 Newcastle and today as well, 1-0. Five very good victories with clean sheets, it’s really amazing.

“We were trying to achieve our style being consistent, and I think in the first half today we played very well. In the second half, we were more brilliant defensively because we didn’t control the game like we did in the first half.

“We were feeling strong in our mind and trying to play each moment like the match was demanding. They were in front of us two months ago and we’ve come back at them.

“For the next matches, trying to keep our opportunity to get a