At A Glance
Aston Villa go in search of back-to-back Premier League wins when they take on Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on Saturday.
After surviving a nerve-jangling finale against Everton last weekend, Steven Gerrard’s team will look to back it up with a first away victory of the season.
The Villa head coach’s first away match in charge of the club was against Palace, resulting in a 2-1 success.
Patrick Vieira’s Palace started the campaign with a 2-0 loss at home to Arsenal before picking up a point against Liverpool on Monday night.
The Eagles took the lead at Anfield before eventually being pegged back by The Reds, who played with ten men for the final 30 minutes.
Standout Stats
An eighth Premier League win in this fixture for Crystal Palace would equal their most against a particular opponent, having beaten Leicester on that many occasions.
Villa won last season's corresponding fixture 2-1 in Steven Gerrard's second game in charge and can earn consecutive league away victories against the Eagles for the first time.
Palace are the only club to have faced top-six sides from last season in both of their opening two fixtures of 2022-23, losing 2-0 at home to Arsenal and drawing with Liverpool.
They have lost their opening two home games of a Premier League campaign on five occasions, the joint-most by any club alongside Sunderland and West Ham.
Their only home league defeat last season against a team who finished in the bottom half of the table came at the hands of Aston Villa.
Steven Gerrard's side have only won once in six away league matches (D1, L4).
They could lose and fail to score in their two opening away games of a top-flight campaign for the first time since 2002.
Villa lost five of their six matches in London last season, with the exception being a 2-1 win at Crystal Palace.
Danny Ings has opened the scoring in an unrivalled 20 Premier League games since the start of the 2019-20 campaign.
The Last Meeting
After commemorating the 40th anniversary of the 1982 European Cup triumph before kick-off, Villa set about doing the double over Crystal Palace back in May.
And they looked set to do just that when Ollie Watkins handed them the lead after 69 minutes.
But Eagles substitute Jeffrey Schlupp was in the right place at the right time to tap home an equaliser with nine minutes remaining.
Team News
Steven Gerrard is set to be without summer signing Diego Carlos for a sustained period of time after he suffered an Achilles injury last weekend.
Better news comes in the form of Kortney Hause’s return to full training building up to the game.
Crystal Palace have no new injury dilemmas after coming through Monday night’s trip to Liverpool unscathed.
Nathan Ferguson, Jack Butland, James McArthur and James Tomkins remain sidelined.
The Boss
“Since Patrick’s (Vieira) taken over from Roy Hodgson, he’s changed the style of play. He brought his own way and his own philosophy across to the players in really admirable fashion. He added exciting players and he’s made the group very dynamic and exciting. He’s added youth and talent into the group, so he’s done an amazing job. I’ve got a lot of admiration for the work he’s done there, and I’m sure he’ll continue to progress Crystal Palace.”
Steven Gerrard
