Aston Villa 3 Crystal Palace 0 – disappointing Eagles downed by 10-man Villans

BY SAM SMITH

Another disappointing performance by Crystal Palace saw them comfortably beaten 3-0 by 10-man Aston Villa.

The result means the Eagles have now conceded 10 goals in two games after their 7-0 thrashing by Liverpool last weekend.

Roy Hodgson’s side had the first big chance. The game might have been so different had Wilfried Zaha shot either side of Emiliano Martinez rather than straight at the Villa goalkeeper when put through on goal.

Ultimately, it was the hosts who led and the quality of their finishing was excellent – in stark contrast to Palace’s. Ollie Watkins’ drive was parried by Vicente Guaita and Bertrand Traore tapped in the rebound.

Villa had Tyrone Mings sent off for receiving two yellow cards in quick succession. First, he and Zaha were cautioned for exchanging shoves after the Palace talisman had reacted angrily to a tackle. Mings then brought down the Palace forward as he sought to lead a counter-attack.

But the South Londoners’ response to earning the numerical advantage was poor. Instead, Kortney Hause squeezed a header over the line after Watkins had hit the bar – with referee Anthony Taylor helped by the goal-line technology.

Anwa El Ghazi then hammered in a wonderful third goal via the post from a tight angle. Watkins twice could have made it 4-0 but struck efforts against the post and straight at Guaita.

Joel Ward saw a late cross sail against the crossbar but that was the closest the Eagles came to scoring after Mings was dismissed.