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2 days ago
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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 where both sides will feel they could have won.
A late Victor Lindelöf header that struck the post was the closest anyone came in the end as neither Adam Wharton nor Morgan Rogers could 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 keep pace with the leaders despite bombarding the Palace goal in the final 10 minutes. A furious Emery made a beeline for the officials at the final whistle in a clear indication of his frustration.
Much has changed since Palace inflicted their fifth victory in their past six meetings against Villa under Glasner back 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 didn’t need any extra motivation from his poor record against Palace that includes a 3-0 defeat in the FA Cup semi-final in May. But judging by his demeanour on the touchline throughout a drab first half, Emery was clearly relishing the challenge.
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 forced to deploy Justin Devenny at right wing-back after being reduced to only 13 fit senior outfield players by the absence of Nathaniel Clyne and Jefferson Lerma.
Palace are understood to be making progress on a deal to sign Zakaria El Ouahdi from Belgian side Genk as they await the return of Daniel Muñoz from a knee injury and are hoping to add more reinforcements to their depleted squad, even if Glasner has insisted his decision whether to sign a new contract won’t depend on new arrivals this month.
Villa will certainly need to add more depth to their squad if they are to have any chance of keeping this pace up. They were happy to sit deep early on and frustrate Palace. The plan was working until Adam Wharton found space to play in Brennan Johnson after 18 minutes but his shot was unconvincing and Martínez was able to make the save.
Villa finally called Dean Henderson into action when Youri Tielemans set up Ollie Watkins but the Palace goalkeeper was quickly out to smother him. Johnson could not make proper contact with a Yeremy Pino cross that was floated to the back post in a move that summed up the poor quality on show. Maxence Lacroix made a timely tackle to stop Watkins in full flow before Villa felt they should have had a penalty just before the break when Matty Cash’s shot struck Tyrick Mitchell on the arm. The referee Andy Madley waved away the appeals.
Villa were forced into a change at half-time as Martínez was unable to continue, with Marco Bizot once again called into action off the bench. They seemed intent on stepping up the pressure and Tielemans 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.
Bizot could only parry 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 Marc 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 that drew gasps from the home crowd. Villa came even closer to snatching the victory when Lindelöf’s header came back off the post from a free kick before Rogers blazed over from inside the area in the last minute of normal time. But they had settle for a share of the spoils as Emery made his feelings clear to the referee before storming down the tunnel.
