Goals from Jean-Philippe Mateta, Eddie Nketiah and a birthday brace from Ismaila Sarr saw Crystal Palace dismantle Aston Villa 4-1 at Sehlurst Park.
The last home win of the season for Palace came against bottom of the table Southampton all the way back in December.
Aston Villa had the ball in the back of the net twice in the first forty-five minutes, but VAR was not on their side as Morgan Rogers and Jacob Ramsey strayed offside.
The visitors had only kept three clean sheets in the Premier League this season and soon found themselves behind when Ismaila Sarr put Palace a goal up in the first half.
Villa could take solace in teh fact they are the side to have won the most points from losing positions in the division with 18 and after an equaliser from Rogers they appeared to be set to add to that tally. However, a dominant second half showing from Palace succumbed Unai Emery's side to an emphatic defeat.
Sarr would net again, and Eddie Nketiah would score his first league goal for the club. Jean Philippe Mateta would also continue his fine form getting his eighth goal since the start of 2025.
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Story of the Match
The hosts made one change to their starting 11 ahead of their clash with Aston Villa.
Adam Wharton would start in the Premier League for the first time since the win against Tottenham in October. The Englishman has appeared as a used substitute in each of the Eagles’ last three league games.
Jefferson Lerma dropped to the bench as he suffered a knock to his knee last week. Will Hughes picked up a knock to his hamstring, but Palace manager Oliver Glasner deemed he was fit enough to start.
Matheus Franca would once again not be in the matchday squad and Glasner said he needs some 11v11 training and should get minutes in the friendly in Marbella. New signings Ben Chilwell and Romain Esse would once again take their places on the Palace bench.
Unai Emery changed shape to a back three alongside four personnel changes ahead of Villa’s trip to Palace with one of these being an enforced one.
Tyrone Mings picked up a knock against Chelsea and could only make the bench. Axel Disasi took his place in the eleven. Andres Garcia would replace Matty Cash as the starting right wing-back and Lucas Digne would replace Ian Maatsen as the starting left wing-back.
Lamare Bogarde also made the starting team. Loanees Marco Asensio and Marcus Rashford could only make the bench. Morgan Rogers was withdrawn in the victory against Chelsea with a suspected knock but was fit enough to start.
Maxence Lacroix would make an early interception to halt an Ollie Watkins break.
English centre halves Marc Guehi and Ezri Konsa would take knocks early on, but they were both able to play on.
Aston Villa would have a couple of opportunities with Chris Richards making a block from a Lucas Digne cross and Youri Tielemans putting a header well wide following a corner. Will Hughes would pick up his tenth yellow card of the season after a foul and will be banned for Palace’s next two games.
The visitors would see two goals ruled out in the first half both for offside. Ollie Watkins would play a pass for Jacob Ramsey to nod into the net and Watkins was involved for the second ruled out goal. He was pushed out wide and played a ball across the face of goal for Rogers to nod it in.
The first Palace goal came as Sarr tapped it in at the back post after Adam Wharton crossed it to Chris Richards and his header was saved by Emi Martinez.
Youri Tielemans had an attempt to create from a set piece to get Villa back in the game, but his corner was smashed away by Mateta. Sarr could have extended Palace’s lead in the first half as he saw a shot saved by Emi Martinez after a one-two with Ebere Eze and his second attempt was blazed over the bar.
Half time saw two changes for Villa as Robin Olsen replaced the injured Martinez and Leon Bailey took Andres Garcia’s place.
Eze got the first meaningful attempt of the second half as his shot was blazed over the bar.
Rogers would get Villa’s only goal of the game after Olsen’s goal kick found Watkins to flick it on into the area. The Englishman turned Chris Richards and placed it into the bottom corner. Glasner’s first change of the game was removing the booked Hughes for Jefferson Lerma.
Palace’s second goal of the game came through Mateta. Wharton released it to Eze who found the Frenchman to fire it in with his left foot. Shortly after the goal the Eagles had a penalty appeal as Daniel Munoz collided with Ramsey, but no substantial contact was made.
Asensio and Rashford were introduced with 20 minutes to spare as Emery’s side would attempt to salvage a result.
Sarr grabbed his second shortly after this, finding the bottom left corner from a Munoz cross.
Tyrick Mitchell could have grabbed the fourth after a cross from Mateta, but he dragged his effort well wide. Perhaps Villa’s best effort came as Dean Henderson was found off his line for Marcus Rashford to race through on goal, but Jefferson Lerma would cut this play out at the last moment.
The visitors would not give up going forwards as Leon Bailey would fire offensively off the bench. This was blocked by the Palace captain Marc Guehi. The Jamaican would pick up his third yellow of the season for hauling back Mitchell.
Nketiah replaced the Senegalese Sarr four minutes from the 90 and would get on the scoresheet tapping in from close range following a cross from Mitchell.
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Player of the Match – Ismaila Sarr
A big performance on his birthday as he demonstrated some excellent positioning to get his two goals. He was the fastest to react after Richards’ header was saved.
He also got his boot on the end of the cross from Munoz. This game meant that he matched his 2019/20 tally for Watford of nine Premier League goal contributions.
Five goals and four assists that time - six goals and three assists this campaign. One more goal will take him to his best campaign in the English topflight.
He also showed his explosive pace able to make runs behind and could have had a hattrick if it wasn’t for a great Martinez save.
