Oh boy, things aren’t looking for good Villa are they? Losing the last three games in a row, Villa are going to play against a very strong Crystal Palace side. Under Tony Pulis is looks as though Palace will remain in the Premier League next season. Palace have won their last two games, including a very impressive win against Chelsea and Cardiff. Pulis has managed to get his team to play well and most importantly they are very difficult to beat. Aston Villa? Well, they are definitely the most inconsistent side in the Premier League and as a result, it’s difficult to predict how they’ll play.
In the previous fixture, Crystal Palace won 1-0 through a beautiful goal by Gayle. Barry Bannan may face against his former team, he transferred to Crystal Palace during the summer transfer window of 2013 for a fee of 1.3 million. He made 61 appearances for club scoring 1 goal.
Team News:
Crystal Palace have almost a fully fit squad to choose from. Dwight Gayle returned from injury to score 5 goals in Palace’s reserve fixture against Brentford. But it maybe a weekend to early for Gayle to feature.
Aston Villa welcome back trio, El Ahmadi, Gabriel Agbonlahor and Fabian Delph from injury. The trio missed the defeat to Fulham last weekend but all three have been training. However 6 players are sustaining long term injuries: Helenius, Benteke, Kozak, N’Zogbia, Okore and Gardner.
Match Facts:
Aston Villa have only won one of their last eight Barclays Premier League meetings with the Eagles, drawing four and losing three.
Palace have won an average of 1.35 points per game in the 20 Premier League games under Tony Pulis, compared to 0.58 in the previous 12 PL matches.
Mile Jedinak is the only player to have reached triple figures in terms of tackles (105) and interceptions (112) in the Premier League this season.
Aston Villa have scored just six goals in the six Premier League games that Christian Benteke has played no part in this season.
Crystal Palace are attempting to win three successive Premier League matches for the first time since November 1994 (four games).
Aston Villa have lost three successive games in the Premier League and could equal their worst run of defeats in the competition under Paul Lambert (four games in Dec 2013).
Predicted Lineups:
Speroni
Mariappa-Dann-Delaney-Ward
Puncheon-Ledley-Jedinak-Bolassie
Chamakh
Jermone
Agbonlahor-Holt-Albrighton
Delph-Westwood-El Ahmadi
Bertrand-Baker-Vlaar-Bacuna
Guzan
Match Prediction:
Crystal Palace 1-1 Aston Villa
Like I mentioned earlier, it’s so difficult to predict Aston Villa this season. They could win any game, and lose any game. But today I reckon that Lambert will be able to snatch a draw against Palace. Not the most ideal result, but at least we’ll get a few points on the board.