Aston Villa vs Crystal Palace

Villa Park plays host to an exciting mid-table Premier League encounter between Aston Villa and Crystal Palace.

A 2-1 victory in the reverse fixture in November means Aston Villa could complete their first league double over Crystal Palace since 1980/81. All signs are pointing in that direction, as Steven Gerrard’s men have won their last three Premier League home meetings with Palace by an aggregate score of 6-0. Against this backdrop, Villa’s underwhelming home form has seen them suffer three defeats in their last four Premier League outings at Villa Park (W1), failing to get on the scoresheet in two of them. Indeed, a 2-1 reverse to Liverpool in their most recent league game at Villa Park has taken Villa’s tally to eight home defeats this term, extending their lacklustre run of losing 8+ home games per season to eight!

In the meantime, Crystal Palace have enjoyed a dramatic upturn in form in the build-up to this trip, going from four consecutive Premier League matches without winning (D1, L3) to back-to-back victories, both of which yielded a narrow one-goal margin. A potential success in Birmingham would see the London outfit put together three Premier League victories for the first time since April 2020. But before recording a 2-1 win at Southampton in their most recent Premier League away game, the ‘Eagles’ had lost three successive road fixutres across all competitions, netting just a single goal in that span. Yet, Patrick Vieira has seemingly addressed Palace’s defensive woes down the final stretch of the season, with his men racking up five clean sheets in their last eight Premier League fixtures, as many as in their previous 25!