Preview: Villans travel to South London

Aston Villa look to secure back-to-back victories on Tuesday evening when travelling to Crystal Palace in midweek Premier League action (ko 7.30pm). 

Villa make the long trip to South London having returned to winning ways over the weekend with a 2-1 triumph over Chelsea at Villa Park on Saturday evening. 

After a run of four-consecutive home outings in all competitions, two of which they won and two they drew, Unai Emery's side are now back on the road, aiming to make it five games unbeaten. 

They face Crystal Palace for the third time this season, after a 2-2 Premier League draw shortly after a 2-1 defeat in round four of the League Cup, both outings at Villa Park before the turn of the year. 

Still, like Villa, in the FA Cup this season, the Eagles will be buoyed by a 2-0 league victory at Fulham over the weekend. Despite losing their last two at home, Palace have won all five of their away outings in all competitions this calendar year, and currently sit 13th in the Premier League table. 

Stats

Marco Asensio has been directly involved in eight goals across his last nine league starts with PSG and Aston Villa (4 goals, 4 assists), netting both of the Villans’ goals in their 2-1 comeback win against Chelsea last time out. 

With four goals and three assists, Crystal Palace’s Jean-Philippe Mateta has been directly involved in more Premier League goals against Aston Villa than he has versus any other opponent. The Frenchman netted a hat-trick (and provided one assist) in the Eagles’ 5-0 win in this exact fixture last season. 

Aston Villa have conceded the first goal in each of their last four Premier League games, but have avoided defeat in the last three (W1 D2). They’ve not gone unbeaten in four top-flight games despite conceding first in each since April 2007 (W2 D2). 

Crystal Palace have only failed to score in one of their last 15 Premier League games, a goalless draw with Bournemouth in December. Meanwhile, the Eagles are looking to score in nine consecutive Premier League games within a single season for only the second time, previously having a run of 11 between January and March 2019. 

Aston Villa have lost six of their last eight Premier League away games (W1 D1), as many as in their previous 22 on the road (W11 D5). 

Crystal Palace have won just one of their last eight Premier League home games (D3 L4), losing the last two in a row. It’s the first time they’ve lost consecutive home league games under Oliver Glasner, last losing more consecutively in December 2023 under Roy Hodgson (4). 

Having won nine and losing just one of their first 13 Premier League away games against London sides under Unai Emery (D3), Aston Villa are now winless in their last three in the capital (D1 L2). 

Crystal Palace are unbeaten in their last four midweek (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday) Premier League games, keeping a clean sheet each time (W3 D1). They had conceded in each of their previous 15 midweek league games before this (W3 D4 L8). 

The reverse fixture between Crystal Palace and Aston Villa in November finished 2-2 – the Villans have beaten the Eagles at least once in each of the last seven Premier League campaigns in which they’ve met. 

Crystal Palace have won five of their last six Premier League home games against Aston Villa (L1), beating them 5-0 in this exact fixture last term. 

The Last Meeting

The spoils were shared at Villa Park in the last meeting between these two teams in late November, as Palace held Unai Emery's side to a 2-2 draw. 

The Eagles started well in B6, Ismaïla Sarr firing them into the lead with just four minutes on the clock. Villa hit back nine minutes before the break as Ollie Watkins rounded Dean Henderson to score, before Leon Bailey rattled an effort off the crossbar and then won a penalty, which Youri Tielemans saw saved as the break approached. 

Glasner's side would make the Villans pay, as less than a minute later, Justin Devenny put them back ahead on the stroke of half-time, but substitute Ross Barkley headed home Tielemans' corner 13 minutes from time to ensure the hosts would earn a point. 

Team News

Unai Emery will assess Tyrone Mings and Morgan Rogers ahead of the clash, after both players were withdrawn with knocks in Saturday's win over Chelsea. 

Villa will remain without injured quartet Pau Torres, Amadou Onana, Ross Barkley and Boubacar Kamara, who are all edging closer to returns. 

Oliver Glasner confirmed pre-match that Palace came through their win over Fulham at the weekend unscathed, with no new injury updates ahead of Tuesday's clash. 

Adam Wharton will be looking for more minutes having featured in Palace's last three league outings after a three-month injury layoff, though Joel Ward, Cheick Doucoure and Chadi Riad are still out as long-term injury absentees. 

Managers' Pre-Match Thoughts