Aston Villa's unbeaten league run in 2018 came to an end at the weekend as Fulham beat them 2-0 at Craven Cottage.

The men from Villa Park have had a good campaign so far and their recent run of form really was something to be marvelled at as they surged into the top two ahead of the clash with the Lilywhites.

However, with Jack Grealish and Albert Adomah missing, the Villans could not get another three points and so Steve Bruce will be planning how he can get the club back to winning ways v Preston this week.

He'll be looking to see what he can learn from the game in West London, too, and we've also been thinking about what might have stood out to him from the clash.

With that in mind, then, here are three things Bruce will have learned from the 2-0 defeat...

Perhaps this came down to the fact that Villa had to play a more defensive line-up but they sat off of Fulham far too much.

The Lilywhites are one of the best passing sides in the league so to give them the time and space Villa did at points during this one was a mistake.

Bruce will surely urge his men to get on the front foot against another good side in Preston tomorrow.

Though it wasn't really his fault, Elmohamady played further forward in this game and it didn't really work out.

The right sided man can play in midfield or as a full-back and this display showed he just doesn't quite have the quality to be a real offensive threat.

It's for the best in future, then, that he only plays at full-back unless he's really needed elsewhere.

Villa were always going to miss the quality of Albert Adomah and Jack Grealish but the extent to which they did might worry Bruce.

Of course, they are going to look to add in the summer but the performance without them might just make things a little more urgent in the market as injuries to key men are part and parcel of the sport - something Villa are well aware of.