The result - earned by Youri Tielemans' first-half goal - sees Villa move equal on points with fifth-place Chelsea, though with worse goal difference.
Emery remarked afterwards: “It’s a fantastic victory.
“Through the Premier League we are setting our objective because through it we can play in Europe again.
“Fulham are nine points behind us and this victory against this opponent was very important. We did it. We performed fantastically.
“Even when we were winning 1-0, we had chances but didn’t score another. We could have had some problems defensively, but we defended well, we were focused in the 90 minutes and we played a good match."
Champions League hopes alive
Emery continued: “We deserved to win and maybe to score one more. I’m very happy because to be in Europe is the objective and our dream is to repeat playing in the Champions League.
“We’re not favourites because other teams are in front of us, but we can continue to dream for it, playing strongly to take again the Champions League.
“The real objective is for us to be in Europe and after today, we are close to being in there.”
Important clean sheet
Emery was particularly pleased with the clean sheet - which was the seventh for goalkeeper Emi Martinez.
“A clean sheet is very important and through it you are closer to winning the match.
“We did it, and it was important for our confidence to feel strong and to feel comfortable dominating defensively when the opponents are not getting chances.
“In one corner or one offensive action they could score one goal and we were always trying to score a second goal close the result of the match for us.”