Aston Villa v Crystal Palace is the focus of our latest Scout Notes piece.
PALACE SUPERB
Palace cruised to victory at Villa Park on Sunday, with Jean-Philippe Mateta (£7.5m), Marc Guehi (£4.5m) and Ismaila Sarr (£6.5m) earning the three points for Oliver Glasner’s side.
Mateta kick-started the win with his goal from the penalty spot, before Guehi curled a superb effort into the top right corner.
Sarr, who has now scored seven goals in eight appearances against Villa, wrapped it up late on, heading home from close range.
“So, I think now we’ve had a great start, six games played unbeaten [in all competitions], good performances, and four clean sheets – we are on track.” – Oliver Glasner
Palace may have lost Eberechi Eze (£7.5m) to Arsenal this summer, but Sunday’s performance suggests they will keep thriving under Glasner’s guidance, even if Guehi is potentially off to Liverpool.
Indeed, they are now unbeaten in 14 matches across all competitions.
The next couple of fixtures after the international break are really positive, too.
It’s also worth noting that the league phase of the 2025/26 UEFA Conference League won’t get underway until after Gameweek 6.
SARR + WHARTON INJURIES
Palace were hit with two injury setbacks at Villa Park, however.
Adam Wharton (£5.0m) won’t report for England duty after picking up an abductor injury, while Sarr is set to miss Senegal’s matches against DR Congo and South Sudan.
“We had to pay the bill today with two muscle injuries. Ismaila [Sarr] with a hamstring and Adam [Wharton] the abductor. Hopefully, it’s not too serious. We will make scans tomorrow so they can’t go to the national teams and then let’s see.” – Oliver Glasner
“Muscle injuries, so the players are not used to playing this rhythm. Maybe I need to rotate a bit more. The games are so competitive, and they played most of the minutes. I think these things can happen. We will have the scan tomorrow and get the results. We always want to avoid muscle injuries. Changing the surface where you played makes it a little difficult.” – Oliver Glasner
Maxence Lacroix (£5.0m), meanwhile, emerged from Gameweek 3 with 11 points, but owners were unfortunate not to gain more.
The Frenchman recorded nine defensive contributions (DefCons) on Sunday, but following a review by Opta, the number was later increased to 10. He’ll unfortunately miss out on the extra points, however, since the Gameweek had already closed.
WATKINS DECISION
Aston Villa’s season is stumbling from one disappointment to another, as their streak of 19 consecutive unbeaten home matches in the Premier League came to an abrupt end on Sunday.
Of most concern is the attack, which has yet to find the net this season, having generated only 2.33 expected goals (xG):
Against Palace, Villa looked flat and devoid of ideas, which is why Unai Emery is so eager to bolster his attacking options on Monday, with deals for Harvey Elliott (£5.4m) and Jadon Sancho (£5.9m) reportedly nearing completion.
Emery used a different set-up on Sunday, with wingers Donyell Malen (£5.3m) and Evann Guessand (£6.4m) positioned high and wide in what was essentially a 4-2-3-1 formation.
Both struggled to impact the game, however, with Guessand subbed off at half-time.
Youri Tielemans (£6.0m) tried his luck from long range and his shot looked destined for the top corner until Dean Henderson (£5.0m) punched it away. Ollie Watkins (£8.9m was also denied from point-blank range.
But overall, Villa were left lacking, with Emery still not able to find a way to break down Palace’s backline.
“[Villa’s] style is very effective against a lot of other teams but it just so happens that we’re their kryptonite. Every time we come to play Villa we expect a high scoring game, at least on our end and that’s what happened today.” – Chris Richards
In Fantasy Premier League (FPL) terms, it’s probably Watkins, more so than Morgan Rogers (£7.0m), that is the biggest concern, simply due to his price tag.
And yet… Erling Haaland (£14.1m) is the only forward with more goal attempts and shots in the box this season.
The upcoming fixtures are very decent, too.
Keeping faith still requires more patience than most FPL managers are willing to give him, however, particularly with plenty of other cheaper forwards enjoying decent starts.
