Crystal Palace 4-1 Aston Villa: Sarr bags a brace as Palace cruise to victory

Crystal Palace registered their first win at Selhurst Park since late December thanks to an Ismaïla Sarr-inspired performance. He gave Palace the lead in the first half, tapping home after Emiliano Martínez initially saved from Chris Richards’ header

It looked like Morgan Rogers had scored an equaliser just before the break, but Ollie Watkins was judged to have been slightly offside by VAR in the build-up.

Rogers would have a goal count after the break, but Villa were unable to respond after strikes from Jean-Philippe Mateta, Sarr’s second of the evening following an inviting cross from Daniel Muñoz and a late goal from Eddie Nketiah, giving Palace a big home win.

As it happened

Selhurst Park has been known as a tough place to go during Crystal Palace’s spell in the top flight, but The Eagles had only won 11 points on home soil this season prior to tonight’s game. After losing their two previous home games against Brentford and Everton, Oliver Glasner’s men wanted to get back to winning ways in front of the Palace faithful.

It was very much a stop-start beginning to the match, with both teams being penalised in the middle of the park time and time again before either could get themselves into any sort of rhythm.

Aston Villa thought they took the lead after a break saw Watkins carry the ball into the Palace half. He made it appear that he was waiting for Lucas Digne on the overlap, but he then played through Jacob Ramsey, who beat Dean Henderson with a low effort. However, the linesman put up his flag and replays showed Ramsey was offside by some distance.

The tables were then turned, as a minute after thinking they were ahead, Villa now found themselves a goal down. Richards’ header was initially saved by Martínez and questions could be asked whether he could have done more; he could only parry it into the direction of Sarr, who was ready to pounce and give the home side the lead.

Thomas Tuchel names his first England squad next month, and the former Chelsea manager was pictured in the stands for tonight’s encounter. One of many players wanting to make a strong impression was Adam Wharton, who showed his quality as he pounced on a loose pass before sending Eberechi Eze on his way, as Palace looked to launch a counter-attack. Palace’s number 10 then cut it back to Sarr, who forced a save out of Martínez before sending the rebound over the bar. The Senegalese international really should have doubled his tally for the evening with at least one of his two efforts on goal.

Rogers thought he had levelled things up on the stroke of half-time, but Watkins was judged to have been offside in the build up before playing the ball across to Rogers. Aston Villa had already seen one goal ruled out for offside, but unlike the first, on this occasion it was far from clear-cut. What looked to have been a well-timed run was actually offside by the tightest of margins.

However, Rogers wasn’t to be denied a second time early into the second half. Robin Olsen replaced Martínez at the break, and the Aston Villa equalizer came thanks to a long goal kick from the Swedish international. Watkins flicked on the pass, allowing Rogers to contest with Maxence Lacroix before firing past Henderson right in front of the away fans.

There was now a real end-to-end feel to the game, as both sides looked to break as fast as possible. Crystal Palace soon reclaimed the lead when Wharton passed towards Eze, who was able to lay it off towards an onrushing Mateta while being brought down. The Frenchman has been in red-hot form, with six goals and an assist in his last seven Premier League games, and he scored his 13th of the season when he hit a powerful effort which Olsen could do little about.

Selhurst Park has not been the happiest place to be this season, but this was quickly becoming the best performance that Glasner’s men have put in front of their home fans this campaign. It was more good work from Wharton as he laid the ball off to Muñoz, who had plenty of time to cross into the Aston Villa box. Once again, Sarr was in the right place at the right time to find the bottom corner. Another well-worked Crystal Palace goal meant that Sarr had a brace on his 27th birthday.

There won’t be many better places to be than at Selhurst Park under the lights when things are going well and that certainly seemed to be the case as the time ticked away. To top things off, Nketiah was able to score his first Premier League goal since signing from Arsenal in the Summer. Tyrick Mitchell sent a low cross along the box where Nketiah was waiting to tap home much to the delight of his teammates.

It was the perfect preparation for an upcoming South London derby, with Crystal Palace set to host Millwall at lunchtime on Saturday. Meanwhile, this will be a blow for Aston Villa’s hopes of ensuring European football will be at Villa Park for the third consecutive season. However, they will get the chance to quickly return to winning ways when they host Cardiff City in the Emirates FA Cup on Friday night.

The lineups

CRY: Henderson; Richards, Lacroix, Guehi; Muñoz, Hughes, Wharton, Mitchell; Sarr, Mateta, Eze

AVI: Martínez; García, Disasi, Konsa, Digne; McGinn, Tielemans; Bogarde, Rogers, Ramsey; Watkins