Aston Villa vs Fulham: Key players in the Championship playoff final

Socceroos captain Mile Jedinak won’t be joining Australia teammates Mat Ryan and Aaron Mooy in the Premier League next season after Aston Villa’s heartbreaking 1-0 Championship play-off loss to Fulham.

Fulham’s Tom Cairney celebrates promotion (Barrington Coombs/EMPICS).

Aston Villa boss Steve Bruce hopes to keep hold of Alan Hutton next season. That’ll depend on John.

It came pretty much against the run of play, with Villa now needing to pick up the pieces and stage a comeback. “We must try and dominate against teams we believe we can dominate”. Our football will only get us credit this season because it got us promoted. We’ll dust ourselves down, accept defeat, and yes it’s going to be hard, but we’ve done it this year.

Jack Grealish is a name Republic of Ireland fans will know well and it’s believed Jose Mourinho is a long-term fan of the player.

“I thought we played really well in the second half and deserved at least a goal”, said Elmohamady.

“Of course there is going to be speculation over Jack”.

The nine-year-old was given the chance after his dad Andrew won a competition organised by the club. He was undoubtedly the player of the year in the Championship and his ceiling as a footballer is very high.

Villa’s failure to earn promotion means that they are in financial trouble, and that could cause Bruce’s departure.

Kamara and Sessegnon had attempts either side of a break in play after Ryan Fredericks trod on Grealish, whose quick feet lead to a booking for Odoi as half-time approached.

Grealish fluffed his lines early in the second half, heading over from a good position.

Grealish felt he should have had a penalty with three minutes of the five added on to go but Anthony Taylor was right to wave it away. The attacking midfielder is known less for his aerial prowess and more for his silky footwork, which we saw just before the hour mark, when he escaped numerous Fulham defenders only to be denied by Marcus Bettinelli from close-range.

“I was totally disappointed with the first half in a big game and big occasion”.

Information from Press Association was used in this report.