Former Aston Villa stars agree in Crystal Palace prediction

Former Aston Villa stars Paul Merson and Chris Sutton have agreed their old club face a significant challenge against Crystal Palace this weekend.

Patrick Vieira’s side head into their home clash with Villa on the back of a hard-earned and deserved point at Liverpool on Monday night.

A Wilfried Zaha goal on the half-hour mark put the Eagles in front at Anfield, but they had to settle for a point after Luis Diaz netted an equaliser for the ten-man Reds just after the hour-mark.

That helped Palace recover from their opening day defeat against Arsenal and gave a hint of the challenge they will present for Villa at Selhurst Park on Saturday afternoon.

Villa also make their way into game on the back of a positive result after Danny Ings and Emiliano Buendia scored in last weekend’s 2-1 home win against Everton and gave their side a first win of the season.

Sky Sports pundit Merson has been impressed with a ‘blistering’ Palace side but insisted his former club will take a point from their visit to Selhurst Park.

In his latest Sportskeeda column, he said: “Aston Villa scored an early goal against Everton last weekend and added another late in the game to secure all three points. Crystal Palace, on the other hand, played on the counter-attack against Liverpool at Anfield and got a well-deserved point.

“However, this week, I think Palace will find it a bit hard because they will have to take the game to Aston Villa. Patrick Vieira’s teams have shown that they can play some blistering football on the break, but stylistically, this will be a different game to what was the case against Liverpool last weekend.

“I really like what Vieira has done since taking over the reigns at Selhurst Park - he’s completely and utterly revamped the squad while also adopting a different brand of football. It’s a tough game to call, so I’m going for a 1-1 draw.”

Former Villa striker Sutton believes Gerrard has a big call to make ahead of the game as he decides whether to retain his faith in Philippe Coutinho or hand a recall for Emiliano Buendia.

Sutton described the long-term loss of Achilles injury victim Diego Carlos as ‘a blow’ but backed his former club will take a point from their meeting with Palace.

Sutton explained in his BBC predictions earlier this week: “Crystal Palace put in a very good performance against Liverpool on Monday, but when the Reds went down to 10 men you just wondered whether the Eagles could have taken the game to them with their numerical advantage.

“Palace will still gain a lot of confidence from that result, though, and they will be looking to get their first win of the season here.

“Villa will fancy their chances too, and they were much improved against Everton after losing to Bournemouth on the opening day.

“It was a blow for Steven Gerrard to lose defender Diego Carlos to a long-term Achilles injury, and he has to decide whether to pick Emiliano Buendia in midfield over Philippe Coutinho, who did not do much in the first two games.

“This is a hard one to call either way, so I am going to go for a draw.”