Sunday night sees Aston Villa take on Crystal Palace at Villa Park.
Both sides come into this game still searching for their first win in the Premier League of the 2025/26 season.
Umai Emery’s Aston Villa drew on the opening weekend 0-0 at Villa Park against Newcastle before losing 1-0 at Brentford.
Fans of Aston Villa show a tribute to Unai Emery ahead of opening game. (Photo by Dan Istitene/Getty Images)
The Eagles have earned an unbeaten start to the season having drawn two from two. Last weekend they held Nottingham Forest 1-1, and on the opening weekend they played out a goalless draw Stamford Bridge against Chelsea.
Both Villa and Palace secured European football for the season with Aston Villa’s Europa League campaign kicking off in September while Palace beat Norwegian side Fredrikstad 1-0 on aggregate to confirm their spot in the league phase of the Conference League.
Last season these two faced each other on four occasions. With Palace winning three times, and a drawing the other.
The league game at Villa Park finished 2-2 with Palace thrashing the Villains 4-1 in South London.
There were also two cup ties with Crystal Palace beating Villa 2-1 in the**EFL Cup** Round of 16 and 3-0 at Wembley in April in the FA Cup Semi Final.
Crystal Palace fans TIFFO display which reads Take My Hand, Take My Whole Life Too. (Photo by Crystal Pix/MB Media/Getty Images)
Aston Villa
Ezri Konsa is set to return to Emery’s side after serving a suspension last week for a red card picked up on the opening weekend against Newcastle for a foul on Anthony Gordon.
Boubacar Kamara picked up an injury last weekend against Brentford and is unlikely to feature.
Boubacar Kamara of Aston Villa. (Photo by Neville Williams/Aston Villa FC via Getty Images)
Andres Garcia’s move to Villa was made permanent in June but he is out with an injury that is thought to be more of a long-term problem.
Ross Barkley is also a doubt for this weekend’s game.
Crystal Palace
Palace are closing in on the signing of Yeremy Pino from Villarreal.
Oliver Glasner confirmed in his pre-match press conference that he expects a new signing to feature on Sunday which is expected to be the Spanish international.
Teenager Caleb Kporha is injured for the foreseeable future with a back problem that he picked up in pre-season.
Chadi Riad will not return to action for the next few months after an ACL injury he picked up in training in January. Cheick Doucoure picked up a meniscus problem at a similar time and suffered a set back with his recovery in pre-season and is also out for the long-term.
Eddie Nketiah is expected to be missing from the side for the next two and a half months with a hamstring injury he picked up in pre-season.
Daichi Kamada returned to the side on Thursday after picking up a knock in the Community Shield win.
Glasner stated that Will Hughes may return on Sunday after missing the match against Fredrikstad.
Odsonne Edouard will not play against Villa as Glasner confirmed pre Fredrikstad that he has pain in his achilles.
Odsonne Edouard against Fredrikstad. (Photo by Sebastian Frej/Getty Images)
Likely Lineups
Aston Villa (4-2-3-1)
Martinez; Cash, Konsa, Mings, Digne; Tielemans, Onana; McGinn, Buendia, Rogers; Watkins
Crystal Palace (3-4-2-1)
Henderson; Richards, Lacroix, Guehi; Munoz, Wharton, Lerma, Mitchell; Sarr, Kamada; Mateta
Key Players
Aston Villa – Morgan Rogers
Morgan Rogers poses with the Men's young PFA Players' Player of the Year award. (Photo by Darren Staples / AFP) (Photo by DARREN STAPLES/AFP via Getty Images)
Around ten days ago the former Middlesbrough forward was crowned as the **PFA Young Player of the Year**for his outstanding 2024/25 season. The 23-year-old arrived in the Midlands in 2023 from Middlesbrough.
Rogers picked up an impressive 27 goal contributions in his 54 games he played in all competitions. The break down of this includes 18 goals and assists in the Premier League and four goals in his 12 Champions League games.
Capable of operating as a number ten or winger he even managed to catch the eye of Thomas Tuchel and earn six England caps since November last year.
Villa fans will be hoping his vision and technical ability on the ball will help them towards a first win and goal of the season.
Crystal Palace – Maxence Lacroix
Maxence Lacroix. (Photo by Sebastian Frej/Getty Images)
It has been a positive start to his second season in South London for Lacroix. He has been part of a Palace defence that has kept three clean sheets in the last two weeks.
If captain Marc Guehi is to depart the club before the end of the window it will be expected that Lacroix steps up.
Last weekend against Nottingham Forest he was dominant in his duels and displayed very impressive recovery abiology.
He will once again need to be at the top of his game to halt the attacking threat of Rogers and Ollie Watkins.
Match Details
Where is the game being played?
The game is being held at the home of Aston Villa – Villa Park in Birmingham, England. The stadium can hold up to 42,640 spectators.
What time is kick-off?
The game will kick off at 19:00 BST on Sunday, 31st August 2025.
Following **Crystal Palace**’s demotion to the UEFA Conference League this tie was moved from Friday night to Sunday as Palace were in action in Norway on Thursday.
Will the game be televised?
This match has been selected for television coverage on Sky Sports Main Event.
Live updates of the match will also be available on the Sky Sports website and Premier League app.
Highlights of the game will be available on YouTube shortly after full time with Match of the Day Two shown on BBC One from 22:30 BST with extra analysis.