Aston Villa and Crystal Palace both chase a first league win of the season in their Premier League clash at Villa Park.
Victory or a draw could lift Villa out of the relegation zone if they find themselves in the bottom three come kick-off in the event that Brighton avoid defeat at home to Manchester City earlier in the day.
Depending on results elsewhere, Palace can go as high as eighth with a win.
Team News
Ezri Konsa is available for Villa after he was suspended for their 1-0 defeat at Brentford.
Boubacar Kamara (hamstring) and Ross Barkley (fitness) face late checks but Andres Garcia (knock) remains sidelined.
Palace could be without midfielder, Will Hughes after he missed their goalless second leg against Fredrikstad in their UEFA Conference League Play-Off.
Caleb Kporha (back), Odsonne Edouard (Achilles), Chadi Riad (ACL), Cheick Doucoure (knee) and Eddie Nketiah (hamstring) also miss out.
When is Kick-Off?
Villa host Palace at Villa Park on Sunday 31 August at 7pm BST, live on Sky Sports in the UK.
Stat Attack
- Villa have avoided defeat in four of their last seven league meetings against Palace (W2, D2, L3).
- Palace are winless in their last eight league visits to Villa (D3, L5).
- Three of Palace’s six league goals against Villa last season were scored by Ismaila Sarr.
- No Villa player has won more duels than Amadou Onana in their first two games of the season (12).
- Dean Henderson has played more long passes than any other Palace player in the top flight this season (9).
Prediction
With no goals in their opening two matches, Villa really need to find a win to kick-start their season after a sloppy display at Brentford where they lacked clinical touch and much creative spark, which has to be a worry for Unai Emery given their exploits of the last two seasons.
Palace meanwhile had their own finishing issues away to Fredrikstad but their big challenge now is adapting back from artificial to traditional pitch, although they are unbeaten in all competitions this season with one win and four draws so I expect a resilient organised performance.
My instinct is that this is hard to call due to Villa’s lacklustre form and Palace’s first return from an European adventure which is an unknown challenge for them, so a draw might be a safe call.
Prediction: Aston Villa 1-1 Crystal Palace
Result: Aston Villa 0-3 Crystal Palace
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