Full time: Villa 3-0 Palace
A fantastic performance from Dean Smith's side, pushing themselves up to 6th in the Premier League!
Palace's rut continue, they have conceded 10 goals in the last two games.
Roy Hodgson has serious work to do before their game against Leicester in 45 hours.
86'Villa 3-0 Palace
Watkins broke behind the Palace defence, but failed to find the back of the net.
He got another opportunity a moment later a smashes the post!
He's deserved a goal this afternoon.
75' GOAL - Villa 3-0 Palace
El Ghazi whips a delicious ball into the far right hand corner. Palace have failed to show any ambition this afternoon.
73'Villa 2-0 Palace
So close from Watkins!
He plays a nice one-two with Luiz, who finds the forward inside the area.
He waits for the ball, trying to side foot the ball into the net, but fails to connect well.
GOAL - Villa 2-0 Palace
Hause heads home from close range to surly seal all three points for Dean Smith's side!
60' Villa 1-0 Palace
He collects the ball from a Schlupp cross, swivels one way before sending a shot just wide of the post.
55' Villa 1-0 Palace
Luka Milivojevic is booked for a foul on Grealish.
48' Villa 1-0 Palace
Cleared by Palace.
Villa looking like the team with the man advantage in the early stages.
48' Villa 1-0 Palace
Corner for Villa.
Second half!
Villa get us underway for the second half. Will Villa hold out with 10 men?
Half time
Villa 1-0 Palace
Big 45 coming up with Palace having the man advantage, but can they make it count?
45' Villa 1-0 Palace
Palace growing into the game now.
Eze sends a shot straight at Martinez.
45' Villa 1-0 Palace
Konsa replaces Traoré. A shame, he has been electric this afternoon!
44' Villa 1-0 Palace
Mings sent off for pushing down Zaha. Villa down to 10 men!
38' Villa 1-0 Palace
Mings and Zaha both booked for a scuffle.
35' Villa 1-0 Palace
El Ghazi twists Ward inside out before firing a shot just wide!
29' Villa 1-0 Palace
Milivojevic's effort is caught by Martinez.
27' Villa 1-0 Palace
Free kick Palace on the edge of Villa's area.
25' Villa 1-0 Palace
After a lengthy period of consultation with VAR, Taylor decides no penalty.
22' Villa 1-0 Palace
Anthony Taylor checking VAR for a possible Palace penalty.
18' Villa 1-0 Palace
Grealish broke free from a Palace corner, was one-on-one with Guaita but failed to punish the Eagles.
Palace's defence were nowhere to be seen.
16' Villa 1-0 Palace
So, so close from Traoré!
He cuts inside Van Aanholt and cracks a shot of the post.
Huge let off for Palace.
14' Villa 1-0 Palace
Eze's corner is cleared by Grealish.
14' Villa 1-0 Palace
Corner for Palace.
11' Villa 1-0 Palace
Villa remain in control of the game. Palace have rarely touched the ball since the first minute.
GOAL - Aston Villa 1-0 Palace - Traoré
Watkins forced a smart save from Guaita, but he could only parry the effort into Traoré, who hammered home for the early opener!
Great start to the game!
1' Villa 0-0 Palace
Zaha broke away from Mings. Martinez came out well to smother Zaha's shot.
Bright start from Palace!
1' Villa 0-0 Palace
Palace get us underway at Villa Park!
Both teams are out!
Kick-off moments away at Villa Park!
200 for Grealish
Benteke's influence
Vavel arrive at Villa Park
Palace Starting XI
Villa Starting XI
The stage is set
Last time these two sides met on Boxing Day
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Vavel's prediction
Courtesy of VAVEL UK's Jonny Bentley:
Aston Villa have three clean sheets in their last three Premier League matches; they now have the most shutouts in the division. That impressive feat is largely down to two things: showing more defensive discipline than they did last season and the arrival of Emi Martinez. Martinez is an excellent all-round goalkeeper. He is a great shot stopper, a fine distributor and a commanding presence between the sticks.
It is not quite as sunny in Philadelphia for Crystal Palace. They had revived their shaky form with a 5-1 win against West Bromwich Albion being followed up by draws with Tottenham and West Ham United, two in-form teams. However, that momentum was destroyed, last Saturday, when upon their 7-0 massacre at home to Liverpool. Bizarrely, the first-half was quite an even match but Palace's clinical opponents managed to storm three goals ahead. It was all over from that point.
Roy Hodgson will have delivered some reminders of how to defend after the Liverpool horror show. He is a pragmatic manager who builds from a solid defensive structure. His plethora of attacking options almost demand a rethink to the team’s mindset but Hodgson will probably go back to what he knows best, in the hope of eradicating further embarrassments.
Prediction: 1-1
Pre-match comments: Dean Smith
On the season so far: "It’s been a weird year for everybody. Nobody’s been through a pandemic like this before, so there’s been a lot of new things that have happened.
Maintaining our status as a Premier League club was very important to us. The work that we put in after the March period was really important to that."
On Palace: "Crystal Palace will be smarting from the result against Liverpool. The Liverpool goalkeeper made some important saves which may have turned the game.
They’ve had some really good results this season, so we’ll be expecting an organised Crystal Palace team coming to put things right."
Pre-match comments: Roy Hodgson
On the 7-0: "All results have an effect on confidence, narrow defeats or heavy ones. It depends upon the game itself. Liverpool were fantastic on the day and did everything right.”
On Zaha: "He’s continually evolving. He's more and more aware about bringing end product to the squad. He's always been a good assister and now he's trying to chip in with goals, and he is doing so. At 28, he’s in his prime years and he’s proving that.”
On Grealish: "Last year he was very good, now he’s matured and is kicking on and I’ve been very impressed and he's now the first name on everyone lips.”
Predicted line-up: Villa
Martinez; Cash, Hause, Mings, Targett; McGinn, Luiz; El Ghazi, Grealish, Traore; Watkins
Predicted line-up: Palace
Guaita; Clyne, Tomkins, Kouyate, Van Aanholt; Townsend, Riedewald, McArthur, Eze; Zaha, Benteke
Team news: Palace
Roy Hodgson welcomes back focal point, Christian Benteke, who has served his one match suspension for a red card he picked up against West Ham.
Gary Cahill has picked up a slight knock, which could see James Tomkins to make his first start of the season.
Long-term injuries such as, Connor Wickham, Martin Kelly , Nathan Ferguson and Wayne Hennessey, all remain sidelined.
Team news: Villa
Dean Smith will be without Wesley and Trezeguet, however, will be able to call upon the services of Ezri Konsa and Ross Barkley.
This will result in a slection headache for Smith, considering Anwar El Ghazi and Bertrand Traore both got themselves on the score sheet last weekend.
It's the most wonderful time of the year
The best day of the year, Boxing Day football, has arrived!
For Roy Hodgson, his side will be looking to right the wrongs from their humiliating 7-0 defeat to Liverpool.
For Villa, they will be looking to establish themselves as a team capable of challenging for the Europa League.
Kick-off time
Aston Villa vs Crystal Palace will be played at Villa Park; Birmingham, England.
The kick-off is scheduled at 15:00 GMT
Welcome!
Welcome to VAVEL UK's LIVE coverage of the 2020/21 Premier League match: Aston Villa vs Crystal Palace!
My name is Edmund Brack and I'll be your host for this game.
We will provide you with pre-game analysis, roster updates and news as it happens live here on VAVEL.com.