Crystal Palace kept up their impressive record against Aston Villa with a convincing 3-0 victory at Villa Park , their fifth win in the last six meetings between the sides, Softfootball reports.
The big talking point before kick-off was the absence of Emiliano Martinez from Villa's squad, with Softfootball understanding that the goalkeeper's future is still uncertain ahead of deadline day. Despite that distraction, Unai Emery's men started on the front foot, and should have gone ahead inside five minutes when Youri Tielemans, left completely unmarked, headed over from close range.
But Villa's early energy was undone after 20 minutes when stand-in keeper Marco Bizot brought down Daichi Kamada in the box. Jean-Philippe Mateta, who had missed from the spot when these sides met at Wembley in last season's FA Cup semi-final, showed no nerves this time as he calmly sent Bizot the wrong way to give Palace the lead.