Police have made an arrest.
And here’s Paul Doyle’s match report.
Some drama after the final whistle there as referee Martin Atkinson sent off Christian Benteke for what looked like dissent. Does that finish his season with a three-match ban?
Full-time: Aston Villa 2-0 Crystal Palace
Villa have given themselves hope through two well-taken goals from Trezeguet. They are four points from safety, with three to play. Everton, Arsenal and West Ham to come for them. Palace were rubbish, frankly, and appeared to have ignored the second word of ‘Project Restart’.
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90+4 min: Palace have a slight claim for a penalty, as the ball comes off Douglas Luiz’s hand from close in. Nothing doing though who knows these days?
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90+2 min: Palace have a free-kick, and Van Aanholt smashed it wide. It’s been that kind of day.
90 min: There will be five more minutes left to be played. Palace could probably play for 500 minutes more and not score. Their latest effort, from Jordan Ayew, flew wide after an expert piece of closing the angles by Mings.
89 min: Mayer tries some tricks in the box but cannot find a way through or anyone to foul him. His loss of possession launches another Villa attack.
88 min: Trezeguet will not get another chance for his hat-trick, as he comes off for El Ghazi.
87 min: So close for Villa. Superb from Grealish, a slide rule across goal and one of Trezeguet and Davis should have scored but they combine to miss. That would have wrapped it up.
86 min: Zaha, who has not featured nearly enough for Palace, tries a drop of the shoulder and then can only give away a goal kick.
84 min: Free-kick from Van Aanholt is straight at Reina, and the Dutchman is unhappy with himself, though not as unhappy as a visibly miffed Roy.
82 min: Villa plan for the last ten minutes or so is laid bare as a combination of Davis and McGinn try to hold the ball in the corner.
80 min: Villa subs as Hourihane goes off to be replaced by Marvelous Nakamba, and Davis replaces Samatta.
79 min: Roy’s rocket seems to have worked. Palace are much improved. It takes some tackling back from Trezeguet to clear the latest danger.
78 min: Howling miss from Benteke! Townsend digs out the ball and the Belgian heads over when Scott Dann was ready and waiting to head in. It’s been that kind of day for Palace.
77 min: Palace rouse themselves, and Van Aanholt forces a near-post save from Reina who had read the angles correctly.
75 min: Palace sub: Meyer comes on for Milivojevic. Roy Hodgson is not amused at all. In fact, he is very angry indeed. With a tough run of matches at the end of the season, he is staring down the barrel of eight matches lost in succession.
74 min: Grealish has been more buoyant as his team have gained ascendancy. Palace have offered him plenty of space, mind.
73 min: Villa’s final game is against West Ham, which is either a team they can drag into the depths or one whose safety is already secured. Let’s see if they get far enough to be able to have something to play for.
72 min: Palace must find something, if only to preserve the sanctity of the competition. Barring a couple of chances this has been a no show from them.
69 min: Drinks and time to consider that Villa have given themselves a chance to get out of the relegation mire. They will be four points down with three to play and beach residents Everton to play next.
67 min: Milivojevic is booked for what looked an exasperated kick at Grealish. Another Villa set-piece to be launched by Hourihane? No, Grealish’s turn and Guaita can only palm away before he claims the next ball played into the box.
65 min: It did hit Dann’s hand but no penalty. Palace make a double sub: off go Kouyate and Ayew, on come Townsend and Riedewald. Roy Hodgson is raging on the sidelines.
64 min: Grealish again in the thick of it. The Villa plan is clearly to find a third. Douglas Luiz gets Samatta away and his attempt at a shot comes off Dann. Hint of a hand but nothing doing from the ever reliable VAR.
62 min: Hourihane fires in a fizzing shot and Guaita makes a great save, palming it round the post. Villa have their dander up here.
60 min: It’s been coming for Villa who have dominated the second half. Palace have again been poor. Now, will Villa try and sit back on their lead. These could still be a nervous final 30 minutes.
Goal! Aston Villa 2-0 Crystal Palace (Trezeguet, 59)
Villa pile on the pressure. Off the line! Grealish’s ball in and Samatta just has to poke it home. No, great save. Then it comes straight back in and Trezeguet finds space to slip the ball underneath Guaita.
Updated
57 min: Samatta wins a free-kick off Dann, and cunningly so. Hourihane to take again. He hopes to repeat his magic for Trezeguet’s goal but instead shoots on goal and Guaita is wise to the double cross. It’s another corner.
55 min: Mings concedes a corner as Palace awake. It goes to the back post and Scott Dann is penalised for climbing over his opposite number.
54 min: More on that non-penalty. Kouyate has been booked meanwhile as Palace try to stem what has become a Villa tide.
Only the fourth time this season the VAR has overturned a penalty for a foul. Chelsea, Leicester, Man United also had a penalty cancelled. #AVLCRY
— Dale Johnson (@DaleJohnsonESPN) July 12, 2020
52 min: Grealish sails to the left wing and puts the ball back across. Guaita judges the flight and claims with ease. It’s all Villa still.
51 min: Ok, then. Palace have a lifeline and Watford and West Ham fans are hoping they actually come back to life. It’s Villa, though, in the ascendancy again.
49 min: Looking at it again, Grealish had no right to fall like that.
Villa penalty ruled out by VAR!
The look by VAR is lengthy as it looks like Grealish has made the initial contact. And so it proves. This *was* the correct decision. Van Aanholt had been stood on, rather than done the standing.
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47 min: Villa win a penalty! Grealish sets off into the Palace defence and Van Aanhold brings him down. It was clumsy. VAR has a look as Hourihane takes the ball in his hands to take!
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Palace make a half-time change: James “War of words” McCarthy has replaced James “Park” McArthur. We are back underway.
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Hope for Palace in this stat?
26 - Crystal Palace have failed to score in the first half of 26 of their 35 Premier League games this season - more than any other side. Indeed, their total of 10 first half goals is the fewest of any side in this season’s competition. Gradual. #AVLCRY pic.twitter.com/kn3j0tAcLL
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) July 12, 2020
Dan Baker has his say: “I think it’s entirely unfair to bemoan the fact that an awful refereeing decision could decide the relegation spots given how disgraceful Kevin Friend’s performance was in the reverse fixture. Villa have has some awful VAR decisions this season, this is about the first time one has gone their way.”
Salient point from my colleague and friend here, though did Trezeguet score in last year’s African Cup of Nations?
100 percent of previous goals many of us had seen by Trezeguet in July were the winner in the final of Euro 2000.
— Richard Jolly (@RichJolly) July 12, 2020
My colleague Simon Burnton has a view on *that* VAR decision. “Slightly fortunate?” Slightly fortunate? That was one of the worst VAR decisions I’ve seen, a goal disallowed despite multiple replays proving the arm wasn’t used. 50% of the two points Villa have so far banked since the restart came thanks to a ludicrous goalline technology fail against Sheffield United, and they’ve received another bewildering gift today. These mistakes were both inexplicable and could conceivably decide the relegation places.”
Talking of teams on the beach, Everton did not do well against Wolves.
Half-time: Aston Villa 1-0 Crystal Palace
Villa deserved their lead, mostly because they looked the most interested in scoring one. Palace might point to that odd ruling out of Sakho’s goal by VAR but they haven’t found much since. Villa have a lifeline, now can they hang on to it?
45+5 min: More problems for Palace as Van Aanholt goes down, after a clash of knees with Conor Hourihane.
Goal! Aston Villa 1-0 Crystal Palace (Trezeguet 45+4)
Hourihane’s free-kick comes to the back post and with an angled finish, Villa have the lead. Guaita might have done better but that was well-worked.
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45+2 min: Jordan Ayew attempts to win a penalty after running into Elmohamady. Martin Atkinson, the referee, is not impressed. It’s not a dive per se, it’s more a falling over in hope.
45 min: Five more minutes added. Five more minutes of this. Both sets of managers look keen to get their men indoors for a serious rollicking. And both sets of players would deserve it.
44 min: Dean(o) Smith and John “JT” Terry mirror each other in having arms crossed. Their team has been marginally better in a poor affair and are starting to concede chances.
43 min: Another Palace chance. Jordan Ayew finds space and shoots. Reina saves but lets the ball go. Luckily, Benteke came from an offside position.
42 min: Suddenly, Benteke and Palace spring into life. The striker gets two shots on goal, both of which are saved by Pepe Reina. Zaha had escaped down the wing past Targett.
41 min: Roy Hodgson is chunnering away in dissatisfaction. His team have been poor and are very lucky Villa are such a blunt instrument.
39 min: Better from Villa as Grealish starts a move and then finishes it with a snap volley from Trezeguet’s pass. Unfortunately, the resultant corner is poor.
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38 min: Villa sub: Neil Taylor finally takes his leave in favour of Matt Targett. Taylor did ok considering he was injured from the early moments and was up against Zaha.
37 min: Grealish pings the ball out wide and Elmohamady tries his best to keep it in. The passing is too slow, in truth.
35 min: After some short passes that achieve not much, Hourihane goes for a long ball. Elmohamady’s header on fails to find Samatta and back we go into some midfield drudgery.
33 min: Palace pushing up on Villa, for whom Douglas Luiz is getting impatient. But there is not a great deal of movement ahead of him.
31 min: Villa chance! Elmohamady down the right wing and his cross is decent, Samatta climbs highest but misdirects his header. He went for power rather than precision and thus lost control.
29 min: At least that ruck suggests there is something in this match. Its slow pace would suggest otherwise. Roy Hodgson on the sideline doesn’t look much impressed.
27 min: Handbags! Mings and Zaha go at each other after the ball is shepherded out by Konsa and Zaha leaves a bit on the defender. Mings takes exception to that. All is soon calmed but both players get a yellow card. Sakho gets one too for his part in the flare-up.
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24 min: And here’s the drinks break where Neil Taylor’s hamstring is being worked over by the physio. Another look at that VAR goal suggests Villa were very lucky.
23 min: Free-kick to Villa again as Trezeguet is fouled by Van Aaaholt. Hourihane takes, but he tried to be smart and catch out Guaita at the near post. It failed.
21 min: This game is not exactly being played at lightning speed. OK, it’s warm in Brum but Villa have a lot to play for and they haven’t exactly gone at it. Grealish is, as ever, he with most intent and he gets to the byline. Hourihane and Sumata were on the scene but couldn’t get to the ball.
19 min: Villa take an age to work their free-kick and it ends up looping up to be claimed easily. That was poor.
18 min: Zaha, whose form has been fitful since the restart, badly overhits a pass out to the left wing. Grealish meanwhile escapes down the left, but his cross into the middle is claimed by Guaita, with not much Villa pressure on the ball.
16 min: Douglas Luiz is fouled, so Hourihane has chance to whip in a free-kick. Sadly, it doesn’t beat the first man.
14 min: Neil Taylor is carrying on for the moment. Meanwhile, a Grealish surge causes a modicum of panic in the Palace box.
13 min: A glance into the High Court of Twitter suggests most people agree that Palace’s goal should have stood. I speak as a fan of VAR, or at least of what VAR should be. I am not sure it’s been properly used all season in the Premier League.
11 min: I’d say that if Villa were unlucky at Old Trafford the other night they were slightly fortunate there. But that’s just me and happy to be proven wrong.
10 min: Further woes for Villa. Neil Taylor is unwell, it seems and Matt Targett is set to come on.
Goal disallowed! Aston Villa 0-0 Crystal Palace
Uh oh, here’s some VAR. Did it hit Sakho’s shoulder? Or his arm? It looked like a shoulder. That would have been a goal in old money but it’s ruled out. Relief for Villa and particularly Grealish and Konsa.
Updated
Goal! Aston Villa 0-1 Crystal Palace (Sakho, 7)
Well, that was predictable. Milivojevic drifts the ball in, and Konsa offer Sakho the space to head home.
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6 min: Zaha gets his first touch in chasing the ball down the channels as Palace again take their time over their attack. Then he is fouled by Grealish in the corner. It was foolish from the Villa captain.
5 min: McGinn drifts the ball out to the left but can’t find Trezeguet.
4 min: First Villa attack, Grealish lays up Hourihane, and it takes a Joel Ward block to stop that troubling Guaita in the Palace goal.
2 min: Palace set off with some intent and are passing the ball around nicely. Milivojevic dinks the ball towards Benteke, but the Belgian can’t get to it.
1 min: Kouyate is in the wars early, having clashed with John McGinn, but he’s soon back up.
And away we go, stopping of course for the players to take a knee to show that Black Lives Matter.
There is a minute’s silence for Jack Charlton, one of the true football men.
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Out come the teams and Jack Grealish looks determined. This, frankly, is do or die for Villa.
Oh dear, bad news for Villa as Courtney Hause pulls up in the warm-up. He will be replaced by Ahmed Elmohamady at full-back and Ezri Konsa will slot in at centre-back.
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Dean Smith, the Villa manager, has explained his team selection.
Conor Hourihane’s got ready set-piece delivery and he’s a goalscorer. We just felt more of a goal threat, with him and Jon McGinn and the front three. We have to take a lot from that first half an hour [against Manchester United]. We competed well again both Liverpool and Manchester United.
Wolves have just pummelled a poor Everton, and Rob Smyth has all the reaction.
Ian Wright, the Crystal Palace legend, has given his typically forthright opinion about the abuse Zaha received.
People like to make these experiences seem like it's not the norm for black people. It's always an outlier. "Not one of us". "Not a real (insert club) fan".These are real people & daily experiences!! Sooner we accept it the better we can deal with it!!! We stand with you Wilf ✊🏾
— Ian Wright (@IanWright0) July 12, 2020
Roy Hodgson has been speaking about Wilfried Zaha.
I think it’s important [that players and football clubs continue to raise awareness of the abuse suffered]. I think it is being highlighted very much anyway with the black lives matter movement, and everyone seems to be making such an effort to eradicate this type of behaviour. It is very saddening on the day of a game that a player wakes up to this cowardly and despicable abuse. I think it is right that Wilf made people aware of it; I don’t think it is something he should keep quiet about. I think it is very good that our club, Aston Villa and the Premier League are doing everything they can to find out who this despicable individual is and one can only hope that they will get identified and they will get called to account and they will pay for these actions. There is literally no excuse; there is no excuse at all.
"Our club, Aston Villa and the Premier League are doing everything they can to find out who this despicable individual is and one can only hope that they will get identified and they will get called to account and they will pay for these actions."#CPFC | #AVLCRY
— Crystal Palace F.C. (@CPFC) July 12, 2020
A player who served both of these clubs announced his retirement earlier today.
Unfortunately, the main news ahead of this game is the shocking racism - though perhaps shocking is the wrong word - that Wilfried Zaha received via social media ahead of this game from what looks to be a Villa fan.
Just one change for both teams. Hourihane comes in for Villa as El Ghazi drops to the bench, while Sakho is in for Palace as Gary Cahill is injured.
Here’s the teams
Aston Villa: Reina, Konsa, Hause, Mings, Taylor, McGinn, Douglas Luiz, Hourihane, Trezeguet, Samatta, Grealish.
Subs: Lansbury, Nakamba, Targett, El Ghazi, Jota, Guilbert, Nyland, Elmohamady, Davis.
Crystal Palace: Guaita, Ward, Dann, Sakho, van Aanholt, Zaha, Kouyate, Milivojevic, McArthur, Ayew, Benteke.
Subs: Meyer, Townsend, Hennessey, McCarthy, Kelly, Woods, Mitchell, Pierrick,
Riedewald.
Referee: Martin Atkinson (W Yorkshire)
Preamble
Aston Villa desperately need to win this one. Fail to do so and it’s pretty much curtains for Dean Smith and his men. Results have not gone their way this weekend, with both Watford and West Ham winning. They need to win three from four to get to 36 points, and to have any chance of staying up.
Crystal Palace, though, look ideal opposition. Since winning their first match back in beating Bournemouth they have lost every match and it is difficult not to hum Chris Rea’s On The Beach when considering their form. (Neil Young’s On The Beach is also applicable if you prefer your 70s angst to 1980s sheen.) They were, though, much improved in losing to Chelsea. Having said that, Chelsea’s drubbing at Sheffield United on Saturday might perhaps lessen that positive for Villa fans looking for shreds of hope.
It’s all on this, in truth, for Villa.
Kick-off 2.15pm, join me.
