Premier League make official Aston Villa vs Crystal Palace decision

Following the conclusion of the international break, which saw England pick up a couple of wins in the Nations League over Greece and the Republic of Ireland, Aston Villa will return to Premier League action on Saturday afternoon.

Unai Emery’s men will take on relegation threatened Crystal Palace at Villa Park. The chosen senior official to referee the game is Tim Robinson - his assistants will be Tim Wood and Steve Meredith, with Tony Harrington acting as the fourth official. Meanwhile, the senior VAR official for the game will be Alex Chilowicz and his assistant will be Lee Betts.

After their last game, a 2-0 loss against Liverpool, Emery said [via Aston Villa’s official website]: “I am happy with the players. We played with the plan we had. To get some points here is very difficult and maybe we needed more. Even dominating some moments of the match, they were creating some chances in transition and we have to work to improve it. We conceded two easy transitions for them from corners. We also created two good chances from corners and we competed like we needed to get something but we didn’t get points here.

“I’m happy with the match we played. We have to try and keep balance and be consistent like we were last year. We are some points under the level we had last year, but the Premier League is very difficult and it’s tight with other teams in the table. I want to recover some players. They’re not getting fit like they have to but we are helping those players to get better, to feel better. Some players after a long injury are progressively going to help us. We have to be patient and not think about some results we’ve had in the last matches because it was Tottenham and here in Liverpool. We have to accept losing here because they are a team that can exploit their potential like they did. After we are coming back from the break, we have to try to be strong. We’re going to play at home in Villa Park against Crystal Palace and hopefully we can start again feeling good.”

Crystal Palace - Aston Villa’s opponents profile

As things stand, Palace are 18th in the Premier League table, having picked up just seven points from 11 games. With just eight goals to their name this season, they are the second lowest scorers in the division - only bottom club Southampton have found the back of the net on fewer occasions.

In their last outing, Oliver Glasner’s team were beaten by a score of 2-0 at Selhurst Park by Fulham. It was a disappointing display from Palace, as the Cottagers controlled much of the play - they had 63.9% of the share of possession.

Emile Smith Rowe opened the scoring on the stroke of half time, with Harry Wilson sealing the deal in the 83rd minute. The Eagles’ day went from bad to worse when Daichi Kamada was sent off - as such, he will not be available for selection when Villa play Palace on Saturday.