Aston Villa v Crystal Palace LIVE: predicted line-up, team news, match preview and commentary

Aston Villa welcome Crystal Palace to Villa Park on Sunday looking to get one over on their latest Premier League bogey side.

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Villa v Crystal Palace Matchday LIVE

Villa predicted line-up v Crystal Palace

Unai Emery will make a decision on Boubacar Kamara after his injury against Brentford, originally expected to keep him out for a few weeks, while midfield partner Amadou Onana has picked up a hamstring injury in training and has been ruled out of Belgium’s internationals.

Central defender Ezri Konsa will return from suspension.

Bear with me on this one because it’s going to get a little bit weird…

If Onana and Kamara are indeed out, Youri Tielemans and John McGinn will have to move back into midfield. I’ve tossed around some ideas of how that can happen and I think we’re going to see something unexpected.

Donyell Malen is the obvious player to introduce in McGinn’s previous spot. Morgan Rogers slides over for Tielemans because I just can’t see Emery starting Emi Buendía.

I’m second, third and fourth guessing Emery here but I think there’s a chance he wants to bring in greater attacking width on the left (where there’s now a gap) and to not drop Lucas Digne.

Ian Maatsen could theoretically do the job McGinn was intended to do last week, only on the left rather than the right, leaving Digne with limited attacking burden and allowing Malen to perform the tucked-in role and Matty Cash to get up the wing.

Villa v Crystal Palace match preview

Villa’s run of form against Palace has been an irritating one. They haven’t beaten Sunday’s opponents in almost two years. In the last two seasons they’ve lost to Palace six times, often comfortably.

Palace know how to get at Villa, how to tickle their weaknesses and laugh in their faces. Oliver Glasner understands the way Emery likes to play and has a set of answers to every question it can pose.

This unusual 7.00pm kick-off is not a test of Villa’s ability to overcome ethereal odds but of Emery’s solution to the challenge they face on the pitch – the real, substantial, tactical, actual challenge.

Villa have their own puzzle to solve. After the decision to repeat the mistakes of the opening fixture against Newcastle United yielded only defeat at Brentford, the system itself is under scrutiny.

Villa achieved next to nothing on the pitch in their first two matches of the season. They scraped a point against Newcastle and lost to Brentford, earning more straight red cards than they’ve scored goals.

Palace are only a point ahead and are also winless but they’ve played Chelsea and Nottingham Forest in their first couple of games. Glasner won’t be disheartened by that at all; quite the opposite, one would think.

With the first international break of the season right around the corner, both Palace and Villa are desperate to come out of their third Premier League fixture with a win under their belts.

Both are yet to pick up three points and both have reached the first 2025/26 waypoint in the unwelcome shade of a transfer window reality check.

These are good teams with good players and good managers. They’ll both get it right in their own ways and can still pull off a successful season.

The springboard of a win before the players head off to their respective international matches would be a great start in that regard.

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