Times: Like Fulham, Villa will in the Europa League - entering the competition at the play-off stage whether they finish in fifth or sixth place domestically. That round does not get under way until August 20, which will please Martin O'Neill, their manager, after a 2008-09 programme that began in the Intertoto Cup on July 19 and, to date, has comprised 53 matches. Burnout is upon O'Neill's players.

Sun: Boss Martin O'Neill offered no excuses for Villa's Jekyll and Hyde display. He said: "Tiredness is too easy an excuse. "You'd not have believed if you had gone for a tea at half-time that we could have come out and played that way having played as well as we did in the first half."

Telegraph: Fulham's European aspirations grow by the week. Aston Villa, who already have a certain Uefa pedigree, were swept aside at Craven Cottage.

Mirror: After being early-season pacesetters, Villa are ending the season with a whimper and Martin O'Neill is eyeing summer reinforcements.

Daily Express: Fulham are heading for Europe for only the second time in their history. Aston Villa have already booked their place.

Birmingham Post: A season which has lurched from the sublime to the ridiculous and yet still ranks Villa as one of the country's five best teams can now not end soon enough. They desperately need a few shoots of excitement in the transfer market to restore the diminishing optimism of three months ago.

Daily Mail: Rejecting tiredness as "too easy an excuse", Martin O'Neill admitted lessons will have to be learned from the way Villa flattered to deceive.