Fixtures
- Crystal Palace Vs. Aston Villa – Sun, May 19th 2024, 16:00
At A Glance
The curtain comes down on Aston Villa’s 2023/24 season with a trip to Selhurst Park to take on Crystal Palace.
A fourth-place finish was secured courtesy of Tottenham Hotspur’s loss to Manchester City on Tuesday, meaning Villa will play Champions League football next term.
Unai Emery’s team have achieved the club’s second-highest Premier League points tally (68) and they can break the 70-point barrier with a 21st league victory.
Crystal Palace are one of the division’s form sides after racking up a six-game unbeaten run.
The Eagles have won five and drawn one in that sequence, which began with a 1-0 win against Liverpool at Anfield and that has seen them score 16 goals.
Striker Jean-Philippe Mateta has been the biggest beneficiary since head coach Oliver Glasner’s arrival in February, scoring 10 goals in his past 12 games.
Standout Stats
Aston Villa won the reverse fixture 3-1 with three late goals and could beat Crystal Palace home and away in the same season for the first time since 1980-81.
Crystal Palace have a chance to equal their highest ever Premier League finish – 10th in 2014-15.
Ollie Watkins needs one goal to become the first Villa player to score 20 in a top-flight season since Peter Withe in 1980-81.
Palace are one win away from equalling a Premier League club record points total of 49, from 1992-93 and 2018-19.
Villa are unbeaten in all 10 league trips to London under Unai Emery (W7, D3).
The Eagles have taken 16 points from a possible 18 in their last six top-flight fixtures.
Villa are one short of matching the club’s Premier League record of 21 wins in a season, which was set during a 42-game season in 1992-93.
Crystal Palace have never lost their final game of a Premier League season when playing at home (W7, D4).
Only Cole Palmer has scored more top-flight goals than the 10 by Jean-Philippe Mateta since Oliver Glasner’s appointment.
Aston Villa will finish in the top four of the Premier League for the first time since 1995-96.
Crystal Palace have won seven Premier League home games against Aston Villa, more than they have over any other opponent.
Aston Villa have scored 76 top-flight goals this season, last netting more in 1960-61 (78).
The Last Meeting
Aston Villa mounted an incredible late comeback to beat Crystal Palace at Villa Park in September.
The hosts found themselves behind early in the second half when the visitors scored with their first shot on target, with Odsonne Édouard finishing off a counter-attack.
The lead lasted until the 87th minute when substitute Jhon Duran took Lucas Digne’s cross down on his chest before slamming a half-volley home in front of the Holte End.
A surging Villa then took a dramatic lead eight minutes into stoppage time when Douglas Luiz rolled home a penalty following a lengthy VAR check for a foul on Ollie Watkins.
Leon Bailey capped the stunning turnaround when he scored a third in the 101st minute of the game, sending the home crowd into raptures.
Team News
Villa will be without Nicolò Zaniolo, who suffered a broken metatarsal during Monday’s 3-3 draw against Liverpool and will now undergo surgery, and a number of other players.
Unai Emery has ruled Youri Tielemans, Matty Cash, Morgan Rogers and Jacob Ramsey out of the trip to Selhurst Park, with Emi Buendía, Tyrone Mings and Boubacar Kamara still on the sidelines.
Palace midfielder Will Hughes will be absent for the Eagles, but the hosts will have Jefferson Lerma available again.
Former Villan Sam Johnstone and Rob Holding are among those missing for the Londonders.
The Boss
“I don’t like to stop and think about how much I did or how much we did. I prefer to think always about now and tomorrow. I want to enjoy it. I enjoyed being in the Conference League this year. I enjoyed the way we did and the experiences we had. We didn’t win but the experiences we had, with some players playing for the first time in Europe, was fantastic. Everything we are doing here is progressively getting better. If last year we got Conference League and we were very excited, the next step could be to get Europa League. But if we can get more than that, the Champions League is better. Always my idea is to try today to be better than yesterday and tomorrow better than today.” – Unai Emery
