*Gabriel Agbonlahor scored twice in three first-half minutes as Aston Villa beat Fulham to breathe new life into their quest for a top-four spot.*

Agbonlahor outmuscled Chris Smalling to head the visitors ahead from Stiliyan Petrov’s fine right-wing cross.

And the England man took advantage of some poor defending to turn Brede Hangeland and curl in a superb second.

Fulham dominated the second half with Zoltan Gera and David Elm going close but Villa held on.

Although the Londoners will consider themselves unfortunate not to have gained a point after a dominant second-half display, Villa will point to a professional first-half showing and some ruthless finishing.

Martin O’Neill’s side may have beaten Blackburn in the Carling Cup semi-final to reach a cup final for the first time in a decade, but their league form has suffered an alarming recent dip.

The midweek goalless draw with Arsenal, although creditable, was Villa’s fourth league game without a win or a goal in a spell where they have collected only two points.

But after a dull opening 20 minutes, Villa started to show their quality against an injury-hit Fulham side who have now lost five successive Premier League matches.

The pace and trickery of Agbonlahor, Ashley Young and Stewart Downing showed that Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger was far from fair in dismissing O’Neill’s side as a long-ball team after their midweek meeting.

O’Neill was furious with Wenger’s comments but with Petrov and James Milner pulling the strings in midfield and the defence looking comfortable, Villa began to get on top.

The damage was done in the closing stages of the first half and Agbonlahor’s double allowed Villa to play on the break after the turnaround.

Villa led when quick thinking on the right wing allowed Petrov to cross and Agbonlahor got in front of Fulham’s Manchester United-bound centre-half Smalling to nod the opener.

The visitors’ second came just three minutes later when Carlos Cuellar’s ball into feet inside the box saw Hangeland get the wrong side and Agbonlahor showed great composure to take a touch and curl the ball inside the far post.

Villa’s double blow came just after Fulham’s best spell of the first half.

Brad Friedel did well to stop a deflected effort and had to be alert to pounce at the feet of Erik Nevland to prevent the striker turning in the rebound.

And then Bobby Zamora seemed certain to stroke the home side ahead from Chris Baird’s raking long cross-field pass only for Cuellar to race back and poke the ball over his own bar for a corner.

With Villa then happy to play on the break in the second half, Fulham started to dictate play but despite stacks of possession could not find a breakthrough.

Gera was denied by Friedel’s excellent positioning, the American keeper getting his angles spot on to deny the Fulham midfielder from wide on the right.

The Cottagers thought they had pulled a goal back when substitute Elm produced a lovely volleyed finish from Gera’s exquisite through-ball only to be denied by the assistant’s flag.

Richard Dunne then threw himself in the way of another Elm effort and although Fulham continued to press, they were unable to avoid a first home defeat since September as Villa closed out the game.

The result may have got their Champions League dream back on track but their top-four credentials will be tested to the limit with games against Tottenham and Manchester United at the start of February.

*Aston Villa boss Martin O’Neill:*

“We had been in a very good run up until we played at the Emirates before Christmas but after that we should have beaten Liverpool and West Ham.

“There has been a lot made of the fact we haven’t scored a goal in four games so it was nice to right that today. They are three very valuable points as we try to stay with the leading pack.

“We played very well. We were the team pressing in the first half and we got the goals which I think our play deserved.

“In the second half it was a case of sitting on what we had but we saw it through reasonably comfortably and I thought it was an excellent performance.”