The overriding story pre-match was the omission of Emiliano Martínez from the Aston Villa squad amid ongoing speculation over his future ahead of deadline day. Villa were keen not to let that affect them on the pitch, and they started brightly, spurring a great chance to take the lead inside the opening five minutes when a totally unmarked Youri Tielemans headed over from six yards out.
Unai Emery was left cursing being without his number one keeper after 20 minutes, when stand-in stopper Marco Bizot felled Daichi Kamada in the area. Jean-Philippe Mateta assumed responsibility from the spot, and after missing one at Wembley when these sides met in the FA Cup semi-final last term, he made no mistake this time around, sending Bizot the wrong way.
Villa’s attacking offerings were few and far between in the first half, but they did create a gilt-edged opportunity on the stroke of HT. There was a stroke of fortune to how it came about as John McGinn’s hopeful ball forward caused chaos in the Palace defence and Ollie Watkins pounced to fire an effort towards Dean Henderson, which he rebuffed from point-blank range.
Emery had seen enough at half-time and looked to his bench in an attempt to change the feel of the game, replacing Evann Guessand with Emi Buendia, and that did swing the momentum in their favour, but a fine Henderson save to deny Tielemans from distance had the Villa Park faithful frustrated.
They were even more frustrated midway through the second half when Palace doubled their advantage against the run of play. It came from an unlikely source too, as Marc Guehi popped up on the edge of the area and curled home a sumptuous strike into the far corner past a statuesque Bizot.
Considering Villa were yet to score a single Premier League (PL) goal this term, the enormity of their task was laid bare for all to see, but the fact they were unbeaten in 19 PL home games offered a glimmer of hope. Any lingering hopes were dashed a little over 10 minutes from time when Ismaila Sarr put his head in where it hurt at the far post to score in a fourth successive game against Villa.
Villa huffed and puffed in the closing stages as they attempted to salvage a crumb of pride by at least ending their goal drought, but Emery’s men were once again blunted by Palace and went into the international break in the bottom three.
Palace meanwhile, have been able to balance their European and domestic commitments perfectly so far, qualifying for the league phase of the UEFA Conference League while making an unbeaten start to their PL campaign.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Marc Guehi (Crystal Palace)