Even with Aston Villa enjoying their best season for years, Unai Emery cannot get one over Oliver Glasner. The Crystal Palace manager has been struggling with a threadbare squad that still has not recorded a victory for several weeks but stretched his unbeaten record against Emery to seven matches after a game which both sides felt they could have won.
A late Victor Lindelöf header that struck a post was the closest anyone came in the end as neither Adam Wharton nor Morgan Rogers could quite inspire their sides to victory in front of the England manager, Thomas Tuchel, watching on in the stands. But despite losing Emiliano Martínez to injury at half-time, it was Villa who ended the evening more frustrated as they missed an opportunity to move into second place in the table despite bombarding the Palace goal in the final 10 minutes.
A furious Emery made a beeline for the officials at the final whistle after their failure to award a penalty to Youri Tielemens four minutes from full time when Brennan Johnson appeared to haul the Belgium midfielder down as a corner was delivered.
“I don’t know which one was in the VAR, but if they checked the possible penalty, for me it was clear,” he said. “I am so proud of how we played the match, not enough because one point is not enough. But how we are overall in the table on [match]day 21, I think we must accept this point and keep going.”
Much has changed since Palace inflicted their fifth win in their past six meetings against Villa under Glasner in August, with Emery’s side having recovered from their slow start to emerge as potential rivals to Arsenal and Manchester City. The Spaniard insisted beforehand that he did not need any extra motivation from his poor record against Palace that includes a 3-0 defeat in the FA Cup semi-final last May. But judging by his demeanour on the touchline throughout, Emery seemed to be relishing the challenge until his anger boiled over.
Glasner spent the buildup fielding questions over his future after being installed as the early favourite to take over at Manchester United next season. He was pleased with how his side responded after being forced to deploy Justin Devenny at right wing-back after being reduced to only 13 fit senior outfield players due to a mounting injury list.
Palace are understood to be making progress on a deal to sign Zakaria El Ouahdi from the Belgian side Genk as they await the return of Daniel Muñoz from a knee injury, although Glasner has insisted his decision whether to sign a new contract will not depend on new arrivals this month.
Villa will definitely need to add more depth to their squad if they are to have any chance of keeping up with Arsenal, with Ollie Watkins not making the most of several chances that fell his way against a Palace defence that was well organised by the outstanding Marc Guéhi. He left the field deep in conversation with his England teammate Ezri Konsa – a partnership that could yet prove to be Tuchel’s first choice in the summer if John Stones’s injury issues go on.
“I’m pretty sure our chairman will ask a very high price for him,” Glasner said of City’s interest in signing Guéhi this month. “The fans can be really calm but you never know what will happen.”
Dean Henderson was finally called into action when Tielemens set up Watkins in the 25th minute but the Palace goalkeeper was quickly out to smother him before Maxence Lacroix made a timely tackle to stop Watkins in full flow. Martínez was unable to emerge for the second half due to a calf issue and Tielemens should have done better when the ball fell to him invitingly at the back post after Lindelöf’s header from a free‑kick. Henderson then had to react quickly with his legs after a shot deflected off Lacroix.
Marco Bizot could only parry Yeremy Pino’s shot into the path of Devenny but the Northern Irishman’s decision to take a touch cost him dear. Palace were then denied a penalty for a potential foul on Guéhi by Boubacar Kamara following a goalmouth scramble that ended with Johnson being booked for diving.
Jean-Philippe Mateta was centimetres away from connecting with Johnson’s cross with 11 minutes remaining. Villa came even closer to snatching the victory when Lindelöf’s header came back off a post from a free‑kick before Rogers blazed over from inside the area in the last minute.
