Palace tonight, Forest for the last time and match the BBC facts

It’s been almost a week since I posted and after three weeks off for Christmas I’m back in the office for a few hours today but the football continues and tonight it’s another trip to London, this time to Crystal Palace.

And it feels a bit like Palace are our current bogey team and it depends on how they line up and which manager gets the best out of his players.

There is no doubt that they surprised everyone last season and Oliver Glasner rightly received a lot of praise for that. But for now, they occupy fourteenth place in the ranking. But as we all know, this is not the complete story. They may be 14th, but they’re only four points off fifth place.

It’s a very interesting season and I suspect the way Glasner has this team playing is one of the reasons why he is apparently at the top of the list to take over at Manchester United. I say top of the list, the manager at the top of their list is currently our manager and that’s probably the only reason I have any confidence going into tonight.

It’s not me who gets carried away. This is me saying I have confidence that these days we can beat anyone and it doesn’t matter who we play. That said, it’s Palace and as I wrote above, it feels a bit like they are our scarecrow team. So call it nervous confidence.

But we need to maintain the lead we have and the only way to do that is to win and we have had a few days off now so we need to be firing on all cylinders and with the usual approach from the managers and 100% commitment from the players I am sure we will get the right result. See what I did there?

Match the BBC Facts

• Following their 3-0 win at Villa Park in August, Crystal Palace are looking to complete their first league double against Aston Villa since 2013-14.

• Aston Villa have lost three of their last four Premier League matches against Crystal Palace (D1). They have conceded 14 goals in those four games, as many as in their previous 15 against the Eagles in the competition.

• Crystal Palace have won nine of their 13 Premier League home games against Aston Villa (D2 L2), including six of the last seven and the last three in a row. This is their most home wins against any opponent in the competition.

• This is Aston Villa’s fourth consecutive league match away to London (2 wins and 1 defeat previously), the first time they have played four matches in a row in the capital since between December and February during the 1989-90 campaign, a run in which they recorded three wins and one defeat.

• Crystal Palace are winless in their last five Premier League (D2 L3) home matches, their worst run without a win at Selhurst Park since seven between September and December 2023 under Roy Hodgson.

• Crystal Palace have lost four of their last five Premier League matches (1 draw), more than their previous 21 (9 wins, 9 draws, 3 defeats).

• Aston Villa have collected 42 points from their 20 Premier League matches this season (W13 D3 L4), while a win here would put them over 45 points from their opening 21 league matches for only the third time (assuming 3 pts/win all-time), after 1895-96 (45) and 1898-99 (48), two seasons in which they won the elite title.

• In all competitions, Crystal Palace boss Oliver Glasner has never lost to Aston Villa’s Unai Emery in six meetings (5 wins, 1 draw). This is the most Glasner has faced another manager without losing, while as a top manager, it is the most Emery has faced another manager without winning.

• Crystal Palace striker Jean-Philippe Mateta has been involved in more Premier League goals against Aston Villa than any other opponent (9-6 goals, 3 assists), including eight in his last five appearances against the Villans.

• Since the start of December, no player has scored more Premier League goals than Ollie Watkins (6, tied with Dominic Calvert-Lewin). The Aston Villa striker is looking to score in 4+ consecutive appearances in the competition for only the third time, and for the first time since April 2023.