BIRMINGHAM - Crystal Palace extended their dominance over Aston Villa with a commanding 3-0 victory at Villa Park, securing their fifth win in the last six head-to-head encounters and underlining their impressive start to the Premier League campaign.
The build-up was dominated by Emiliano Martínez’s absence amid mounting speculation over his future ahead of transfer deadline day. Despite Villa’s intent to remain unfazed, they were quickly undone by costly lapses. After an early miss from Youri Tielemans, who headed over unmarked from close range, Villa’s woes deepened on 20 minutes when stand-in goalkeeper Marco Bizot brought down Daichi Kamada in the box. Jean-Philippe Mateta, who had missed a penalty against Villa in last season’s FA Cup semi-final, made amends this time by calmly sending Bizot the wrong way from the spot.
Villa’s best chance of the first half came on the stroke of halftime when Ollie Watkins latched onto John McGinn’s hopeful ball forward, only to be denied at point-blank range by Dean Henderson. Unai Emery sought a response after the break, introducing Emi Buendia to spark creativity, and Tielemans forced a fine save from Henderson with a long-range effort. But just as Villa appeared to wrestle back control, Palace struck a hammer blow.
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Marc Guehi, hardly renowned for his goalscoring exploits, produced a moment of brilliance midway through the second half, curling a stunning effort into the far corner from the edge of the area to double the Eagles’ advantage and leave Villa Park stunned. Ismaïla Sarr then sealed the result 10 minutes from time, bravely heading in at the far post to score for the fourth successive game against Villa, extinguishing any faint hopes the hosts had of salvaging pride.
Villa, still searching for their first Premier League goal of the season, saw their proud 19-match unbeaten home record crumble as they slipped into the relegation zone heading into the international break. In stark contrast, Palace’s momentum continues to build, with Oliver Glasner’s men balancing domestic and European duties seamlessly, unbeaten in the league and already through to the UEFA Conference League phase.
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