The injury to Ricketts comes after centre-back Zat Knight suffered a knee injury in the win over Everton on Sunday, which is expected to keep him out for up to six weeks.
His replacement Michael Owen's off-target header rebounded into the net off the body of hapless center-back Zat Knight in just the fifth minute, and summer signing Antonio Valencia scored his first goal for the club just after half an hour.
Fulham striker Hayles was left out of the starting line-up, and Zat Knight also had to be content with a place on the bench because of a foot injury.
Once again Fulham stood off, allowing Jonathan Woodgate to stroll through midfield and feed the Australian, who turned leisurely inside Zat Knight before smashing a right-footed shot inside Niemi's near post.
BBC: SPORT | Football | Premiership | Middlesbrough 3-1 Fulham
First, the livewire Nigerian turned neatly on the edge of the area before pulling his shot wide, then he blazed past Zat Knight and produced a cut-back which was blocked by the back-pedalling Cahill.
"The real turning point was a blatant handball by Zat Knight, " said the 56-year-old.
Villa pushed for a breakthrough but they were repeatedly frustrated, Heskey narrowly failing to connect with Barry's fizzed pass and Zat Knight heading James Milner's in-swinging cross on to the roof of the net.
The home side adopted a route one approach when Marcus Hahnemann's long kick was flicked on by Kevin Doyle and Sylvan Ebanks-Blake wriggled clear of the commanding Zat Knight, but he tried to punch the ball into the net, only to see his effort rebound off a post and he was lucky to escape punishment from referee Peter Walton.
Rovers struggled to create a clear-cut chance and were denied two penalties when Gareth Barry held Benni McCarthy and Zat Knight tugged at Jason Roberts.
Villa have also recently signed full-back Stephen Warnock from Blackburn and completed a deadline-day deal for West Ham centre-back James Collins to strengthen their defence following the retirement of Martin Laursen and the sale of Zat Knight to Bolton.
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