Crystal Palace v Aston Villa: predicted line-up, team news and match preview
Aston Villa have been firing on all cylinders in the Premier League but their next match comes with some serious superstitious baggage.
Villa sit in third place in the Premier League table with 42 points, giving them some margin of error in the fight for Champions League qualification.
Unai Emery is surely keen to guard against complacency. Villa’s current winning streak is one. They are good but not flawless, and they’re in a strong position but not unassailable. There is a world of work ahead of them.
Villa’s Crystal Palace curse?
Emery’s team will kick this game off as favourites, even away from home, but every Villa supporter knows there’s more to this one than meets the bookmaker’s eye.
It comes with a built-in fear, raw and pronounced, and there are many Villans who will simply be assuming Palace will beat Villa on Wednesday night. I don’t really know where I stand. I think I think Villa will win.
There’s a very simple rationale for that fear: results. No matter how good or bad Villa are, no matter Palace’s situation or the competition in question, the Eagles beat Villa under Oliver Glasner.
Villa have lost five of the last six meetings, drawing the other. It’s a sequence that includes games at Villa Park, Selhurst Park and Wembley, and some of them have been damaging defeats.
They haven’t kept a clean sheet since March 2003 and have conceded 19 goals in the last six games against Palace. It’s been brutal, to say the least.
But this is not a curse. A curse is too easy. It’s an excuse. It’s a let-off. Villa’s record against Glasner’s Eagles is the outcome of something more factual, tactical, that Emery needs to solve. This would be a great time to start.
Palace will point to their own doubts in the form of some significant absences. Eberechi Eze has gone. Villa killer Ismaïla Sarr is at the Africa Cup of Nations. Daichi Kamada, Daniel Muñoz, Cheick Doucoure, Chris Richards and Eddie Nketiah are just a few of their injured players.
What happens when both sets of fans expect to lose a game? Let’s find out.
Villa team news
Villa’s injured quartet remains unavailable. Amadou Onana and Ross Barkley could be a few weeks away with their respective injuries but the defenders might be back sooner.
Pau Torres and Tyrone Mings could return within the next week or two, which would allow Emery to revert to a left-footed centre-back on the left of the back two.
There’s no indication yet as to the manager’s intentions for new signing Alysson but winger Evann Guessand is likely to feature for Ivory Coast at the Africa Cup of Nations against Bertrand Traoré and Burkina Faso on Tuesday.
Villa predicted line-up v Crystal Palace
Boubacar Kamara and Youri Tielemans were phenomenal against Forest, which put paid to any idea of springing a surprise in the middle.
That keeps John McGinn in the attacking three behind Ollie Watkins with Morgan Rogers. Emery will decide between Emi Buendía and Jadon Sancho for the final spot. My money’s on Buendía. Or, it would be if I had any.
Where to watch Crystal Palace v Villa
Villa’s away game against Crystal Palace will be broadcast live on Sky Sports+ in the UK.
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➡️ How to watch Crystal Palace v Aston Villa: kick-off time, TV channels and streams
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