📏 Form Guide

Crystal Palace

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Crystal Palace will be hoping for a better result following a 2-0 Premier League defeat last time out to Newcastle United.

In that game, Crystal Palace had 41% possession and 11 attempts at goal with 1 of them on target. At the other end, Newcastle United had 12 attempts at goal with 7 on target. Bruno Guimarães (71') and Malick Thiaw (78') scored for Newcastle United.

It’s been a rare occasion in recent times that Crystal Palace haven’t conceded. It will be a concern for them that Crystal Palace have failed to prevent opponents from scoring in 5 of their previous 6 games, letting in 9 goals in the process. Despite that, we’ll just have to find out if that trend will persist in this next match.

Looking at the pre-match facts, Crystal Palace:

• haven't lost in the league to Aston Villa in their last 4 matches.
• are without a home win in the past 5 matches in the league. Fans are getting restless.

Aston Villa

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Aston Villa head into the meeting following a 3-1 Premier League win vs Nottingham Forest in their most recent outing.

In that match, Aston Villa managed 73% possession and 11 attempts on goal with 4 on target. For Aston Villa, the scorers were Ollie Watkins (45') and John McGinn (49', 73'). At the other end, Nottingham Forest had 10 shots at goal with 5 on target. Morgan Gibbs-White (61') scored for Nottingham Forest.

The stats tell the story, and Aston Villa have been scored against in 6 of their last 6 matches, conceding 10 goals in all. Defensively, Aston Villa just haven’t been too solid at all.

Going into this one, Aston Villa have not registered a win against Crystal Palace when they've played them away from home in the last 3 league games.

↔️ Head to head

Looking at their past head to head meetings stretching back to 19/05/2024 reveals that these encounters have been miserable for Aston Villa. They have not been able to come away with any victories whatsoever while Crystal Palace have been dominant against them, finishing as winners in 83 per cent of those matches played.

There were also plenty of goals scored in those games, 23 overall at an average of 3.83 goals per match.

The previous league contest between the two was Premier League match day 3 on 31/08/2025 and the score finished Aston Villa 0-3 Crystal Palace.

In that game, Aston Villa managed 58% possession and 13 attempts at goal with 4 on target.

At the other end, Crystal Palace had 6 attempts on goal with 4 on target. Jean-Philippe Mateta (21'), Marc Guéhi (68') and Ismaïla Sarr (78') scored.

The match was refereed by Stuart Attwell.

📰 Team News: Crystal Palace

Eddie Nketiah (Thigh problems), Chadi Riad (Fitness), Caleb Kporha (Back injury), Rio Cardines (Muscle injury), Cheick Doucouré (Knee surgery), Daniel Muñoz (Knee injury) and Daichi Kamada (Hamstring injury) are not available for Crystal Palace boss Oliver Glasner.

It looks as if The Eagles will probably kick off with a 3-4-2-1 system for this one, beginning the first half with Dean Henderson, Jaydee Canvot, Maxence Lacroix, Marc Guehi, Justin Devenny, Will Hughes, Adam Wharton, Tyrick Mitchell, Brennan Johnson, Yeremy Pino and Jean-Philippe Mateta.

ℹ️ Team News: Aston Villa

Aston Villa boss Unai Emery has to currently contend with reduced team options. Ross Barkley (Knee injury), Pau Torres (Calf injury), Tyrone Mings (Thigh problems) and Amadou Onana (Hamstring injury) can’t be considered.

It’s our belief that The Villans might utilise a 4-2-3-1 lineup, going with Emiliano Martinez, Matty Cash, Ezri Konsa, V. Nilsson Lindeloef, Ian Maatsen, Boubacar Kamara, Youri Tielemans, John McGinn, Morgan Rogers, Emiliano Buendia and Ollie Watkins.

⚡ Prediction

It seems to us that Aston Villa and Crystal Palace may well find themselves both scoring in what promises to be a very even battle here.

A close call, and we think a draw is quite likely. We’re therefore seeing a very close game with a 1-1 score after 90 minutes.

Andre Moura, 19:01 07/01/2026