(Football news) The visitors have racked up seven points from their first four top-flight matches, while the hosts have only earned six of the possible 12 points so far this season. With the exception of their convincing 8-0 aggregate victory over Hibernian to advance to the Europa Conference League group stage, Aston Villa’s start to the new campaign has been uneven, with the team winning two and losing two of their first four Premier League games.

Prior to the start of the international break, Unai Emery’s team was defeated 3-0 by Liverpool at Anfield, with a Matty Cash own goal sandwiched between goals from Dominik Szoboszlai and Mohamed Salah. This defeat left the Lions in 10th place in the standings.

Villa will be happy to be back at home, where they have won all eight of their recent Premier League games by an average score of 18-2, including a convincing 4-0 success over Everton at the end of August.

A narrow 1-0 victory over Saturday’s opponents Crystal Palace in March marked the start of their amazing winning streak at Villa Park, extending their unbeaten home record against the Eagles to six games.

Emery and company will be eager to get back on track this weekend against a team that has a good chance of winning so they can gather confidence before preparation for their Europa Conference League debut against Legia Warsaw in Poland and a trip to Chelsea on the road in the top division.

With a 4-2 comeback triumph over Plymouth Argyle in the EFL Cup second round and a 3-2 home win over Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League, Crystal Palace was in good spirits going into the international break.

After the first half ended scoreless, Eberechi Eze scored in between goals from Odsonne Edouard to help the Eagles earn their second league victory of the year. With seven points after four games, they are now seventh in the rankings, just three points off the top four.

Despite their strong start, manager Roy Hodgson has insisted that his Palace team is “still very much a work in progress” and that some aspects of their game need to be improved as they prepare to play Aston Villa and Fulham as well as a doubleheader with Manchester United in the league and EFL Cup at the end of September.

Only at Tottenham Hotspur (0.36) do the Eagles have a lower goal-to-game ratio away from home against an opponent that they have faced at least 10 times in the top flight. Palace enters Saturday’s game having won just one of their last 11 trips to Villa Park, a 1-0 victory in December 2013. They have also scored just five goals (0.45 per game) during this run.

For the first time since the 1994–95 season, Palace would remain unbeaten from their first three away league games if they managed at least a draw against Villa. However, Palace has made an unbeaten start on the road thus far this season, scoring six goals in the process.

Aston Villa Premier League Form

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Crystal Palace League Form

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Emiliano Buendia, Tyrone Mings (both knee), Jacob Ramsey (ankle), and Tim Iroegbunam (unspecified) will be out injured for Aston Villa, while Diego Carlos (hamstring) and Alex Moreno (thigh) are major doubts and are not anticipated to play this weekend. Phillipe Coutinho, meanwhile, has signed a loan deal with Qatari club Al-Duhail.

Carlos’ anticipated absence may force Emery to switch to a 4-4-2 formation, with Ezri Konsa partnering one of Pau Torres or Clement Lenglet at centre back and Matty Cash and Lucas Digne at fullback.

While Youri Tielemans recently expressed his frustration over a lack of playing time, the midfielder may have to settle for a spot on the substitutes’ bench once more as Boubacar Kamara, Douglas Luiz, and John McGinn are currently preferred over the Belgian by Emery. Moussa Diaby should continue to support Ollie Watkins in attack, while Moussa Diaby should continue to provide that support for Moussa Diaby.

Michael Olise and Matheus Franca, the summer acquisitions for Crystal Palace, are still out with hamstring and back injuries, respectively. Marc Guehi has also been ruled out after being substituted at halftime of England’s victory over Scotland due to an undisclosed issue. Rob Holding may therefore make his debut alongside Joachim Andersen in defence.

Will Hughes will be in the running to start alongside Cheick Doucoure and Jefferson Lerma in the victory over Wolves after making his first appearance of the year as a late substitute. Hughes had been sidelined with a knee injury earlier in the season.

Eze and Edouard have each taken 19 shots in the Premier League thus far this season, and only Erling Haaland (20) has more shots than both of them combined. The Eagles combination are anticipated to remain in the starting lineup this weekend, with Eze playing in an advanced midfield position behind Edouard up front.
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