Aston Villa locked horns with Crystal Palace in the Premier League earlier this afternoon as they looked to secure maximum points from this clash at Villa Park. The Villans made a bright start to the contest and took the lead in the fifth minute courtesy of Bertrand Traore’s goal. Tyronne Mings was given his marching orders for picking up two yellow cards in the 45th minute.
The West Midlands outfit didn’t let their numerical disadvantage affect their mindset and managed to kill the game in the 66th minute via Kourtney Hause’s goal. Anwar El Ghazi put the icing on the cake for the Villans by scoring another goal just ten minutes later. The contest finished with Dean Smith’s men securing a comfortable 3-0 win at Villa Park.
Let’s take a look at how each Aston Villa player performed during the clash against the Eagles.
GK: Emiliano Martínez – 7/10
The Villans keeper pulled off a great save early in the game to deny Wilfried Zaha and cruised his way to a clean sheet in the second half as he was hardly troubled by the Palace attackers.
RB: Matty Cash – 8/10
The English full-back did enough work defensively to neutralise the threat of Eberechi Eze throughout the 90 minutes. He also created a couple of decent chances for his teammates in the attacking third.
CB: Kourtney Hause – 8.5/10
Hause made numerous important clearances during the game to help his team get over the line with the clean sheet intact. He also got himself a goal in the second half, which will keep him in high spirits heading into the new year.
CB: Tyrone Mings – 4/10
The Villa centre-back struggled to cope with Zaha’s pace and let his teammates down by getting sent off. Not a day to remember for him!
LB: Matt Targett – 7/10
Targett didn’t put a foot wrong when defending inside his half but struggled to influence the game in the opposition half.
CM: Douglas Luiz – 7/10
The Brazilian midfield ace offered a lot of protection to the Villans backline and performed his duties well when called into action. He also passed the ball accurately without creating any chances up top.
CM: John McGinn – 7/10
The Scottish playmaker retained possession immaculately in midfield and was not shy of making a few tackles to earn the ball back for his side.
RM: Bertrand Traore – 8/10
Traore created all kinds of problems for the Palace defenders in the first half. He kept his composure to open the goal-scoring in the fifth minute and was unfortunate to hit the crossbar before being subbed off because of Mings’ red card.
CAM: Jack Grealish – 8/10
Grealish was a constant menace for the opposition defenders and engineered several outstanding chances for his teammates in the final third. However, he ended the game without a goal or an assist to his name.
LM: Anwar El Ghazi – 9/10
The Villans winger was always willing to have a shot at goal and made some promising runs out on the wide areas. He got his deserved goal in the 76th minute.
ST: Ollie Watkins – 8/10
Watkins played a huge role in the lead-up to Traore’s opener in the first half and hit the crossbar before Hause’s goal in the second. He worked hard and was a real goal-threat during the 90 minutes.
Substitutes:
CB: Ezri Konsa – 6/10
He did his job when called into action, which was enough to see out the clean sheet.
RB: Ahmed Elmohamady – N/A
He did not get enough time to make an impact.
CM: Jacob Ramsey – N/A
Murphy came on to run the clock down for his team.
