Palace tomorrow with match facts, North Stand expansion, Europa League fixtures and player speculation
I got to ten posts and truth be told, I'm surprised I got that far. But there were too many comments about too many new posts. So I failed in my post a day for a season, but I learnt something. Once or twice a week is best.
And not having to scrape the barrel is probably best for everyone. It was a good idea at the time and I had to give it a go.
Anyway, that done it's been a busy week. According to some, we're either going to sign Lucas Paqueta from West Ham or Marco Asensio from PSG. I think the latter is more likely of those two, but I also wouldn't be surprised if someone came in at the last moment that we hadn't heard of.
But I'm not a huge fan of speculation so probably best to leave that there. But I think it's fair to say there will be a player or three arriving before the window closes. Actions and all that.
Talking of actions, the North Stand expansion is confirmed. It will increase attendance by around 6,000 and revenue by about £13mn. a season. In this day and age, it's very important to have more than just seats. Villa Park has to become a destination for other events and even just for the football, there has to be many more ways to generate cash and get people to the stadium earlier and keep them longer.
It looks nice and if reports are true, all for a cost of about £100mn. Not bad.
Europa League fixtures
And we had the draw yesterday for the Europa League and we will face the following. I think actual dates will be confirmed tomorrow, but we have a rough idea already. I think this is the season we have to a couple of these away from Villa Park.
Red Bull Salzburg (H)
Feyenoord (A)
Maccabi Tel-Aviv (H)
Fenerbahce (A)
Young Boys (H)
Basel (A)
Bologna (H)
Go Ahead Eagles (A)
Palace at Villa Park tomorrow
But all that is written above is secondary to what is happening tomorrow evening. And tomorrow is an important match. Palace have two points this season and we have one. It's not what either side would have expected or wanted.
We have also played Palace 40 times and both of us have won 15. Last season they were pretty much our bogey team and it feels like a little revenge is on the cards. But why 7pm on a Sunday, does someone know? There will be an obvious reason and as I'm writing this I think I've figured out it's because Palace played Fredrikstad on Thursday, so ignore that.
But lets not ignore the importance of this match. I'm not going to write it's must win but I'd be okay with four points after six games. Not sure I'd be very happy with one or two out of a possible nine. And I'd be scratching my head a little.
But that written, as I've written already this season, we were never going to win the League, so we should maybe be happy as long as we are seeing progress and getting ready for the League Cup, FA Cup and Europa League. We are all craving silverware.
Right, until tomorrow, I'll leave you with this.
Match facts from the BBC
Aston Villa are unbeaten in their last eight Premier League home games against Crystal Palace (W5 D3), since a 1-0 loss on Boxing Day in 2013.
Crystal Palace won 4-1 in their last meeting with Aston Villa in February, last winning consecutive league games against them in the 2013-14 campaign.
Aston Villa are unbeaten in their last 19 home Premier League matches (W11 D8), the longest current unbeaten run on home soil of any side. The Villans last had a run of 20 or more unbeaten home league games between October 1971 and September 1972 (23), while in the top-flight they last did so between December 1922 and January 1924 (26).
Crystal Palace have drawn their first two Premier League games this season (0-0 v Chelsea, 1-1 v Nottingham Forest) but have only drawn each of their opening three games of a league campaign twice before, doing so in the top-flight in both 1979-80 (3) and 1992-93 (first 4).
Crystal Palace lost five of their first 10 away Premier League matches under Oliver Glasner (W2 D3) but have since lost just two of their last 16 on the road (W7 D7). Since the start of last November, the only ever present side to lose fewer away games is Arsenal (1).
Aston Villa have now gone three consecutive Premier League matches without a goal for the first time since July 2020, last going four in a row in March/April 2016. The only previous league season Villa have failed to score in their first three games was in 1997-98 under Brian Little.
Aston Villa manager Unai Emery is looking to avoid going four consecutive league games without a goal for the first time since October/November 2007 in LaLiga, when his Almeria side did so. It’s the only time in his league managerial career it has happened.
Crystal Palace winger Ismaïla Sarr has either scored or assisted a goal in all six of his starts against Aston Villa in all competitions, scoring seven goals and assisting three. His 10 goal involvements against the Villans are more than he has against any other opponent in English football.
Jean Philippe-Mateta has scored five Premier League goals for Crystal Palace in seven appearances against Aston Villa, netting with 45.5% of his attempts (5/11). Only Wilfried Zaha against Leicester (7) has ever netted more times for Palace in the Premier League against one opponent.
Ollie Watkins has now gone four Premier League appearances without a goal, having eight shots and an xG of 0.71 in these games. Watkins has scored just one goal in 14 Premier League appearances in August, though this goal was against Crystal Palace back in August 2022.
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