BIRMINGHAM, England (Reuters)

Youri Tielemans headed the only goal as Aston Villa beat Fulham 1-0 on Saturday to boost their hopes of finishing in the Premier League’s top five and qualifying for the Champions League.

The Belgian midfielder, Villa’s stand-out performer, powered in John McGinn’s 12th-minute corner.

Tielemans almost set up a second goal for Ollie Watkins and was narrowly wide with a superb curling effort on the stroke of halftime as Villa returned to winning ways.

Donyell Malen struck the underside of the crossbar in stoppage time for Villa but one goal proved enough as they extended their unbeaten home league run to 17 games.

Villa remained in seventh place with three games left but they are now level on 60 points with Nottingham Forest and Chelsea, both of whom have an extra game to play.

Defeat was a big blow to eighth-placed Fulham’s own European hopes. They have 51 points from 35 games but could drop lower depending on other results this weekend.

Aston Villa’s season has been full of promise but it was beginning to unravel after a narrow defeat in the Champions League quarter-finals by Paris St Germain and a 3-0 hammering by Crystal Palace in last week’s FA Cup sem-final.

They were also beaten by Manchester City in their last Premier League game so desperately needed a response.

It was by no means a vintage Villa show but Unai Emery’s side ground out the win to increase the pressure on the sides directly above them in the standings.

Their remaining fixtures are away at Bournemouth, at home to Tottenham Hotspur and away to Manchester United.

“All our games, we know we have to win them to have a chance to be in the Champions League next season,” Tielemans said.

“This afternoon was a good win. A tough opponent, Fulham are a very good team. We could have finished the game earlier, but credit to the guys.”

Fulham failed to really work Villa keeper Emiliano Martinez although they did have the ball in the net before halftime as Ryan Sessegnon shot home but his effort was ruled out for handball following a VAR check.

Harry Wilson also failed to hit the target from Alex Iwobi’s pass but Fulham could have few complaints as they suffered a third league loss in four games.

“The second half we matched them completely in the game,” Fulham manager Marco Silva said. “We need to push on now.”