The Eagles never really got out of the starting blocks having struggled to get to grips with their opponents in what was a disappointing performance.
DATE
27th November 2021
RESULT
Crystal Palace 1-2 Aston Villa
VENUE
Selhurst Park, Holmesdale Road, London SE25 6PU
OFFICIALS
Referee: Michael Sailsbury. Assistants: Ian Hussin, Wade Smith. Fourth official: Martin Atkinson. VAR: Paul Tierney. Assistant VAR: Sian Massey-Ellis
DISCIPLINE
BOOKINGS – Wilfried Zaha (29), Matty Cash (29), Joel Ward (44), Marvelous Nakamba (54), Luka Milivojevic (56), Douglas Luiz (74)
RED CARD – none
GOALS
Matt Targett (15), John McGinn (86), Marc Guehi (90+4)
ASSISTS
Ashley Young (15), Anwar El Ghazi (86), Cheikhou Kouyate (90+4)
TEB VERDICT
The unbeaten home record goes after a performance that is arguably up there as the worst of the season. The visitors had a game plan that saw the Eagles find it difficult to cope with, but that was contributed to by a number of poor individual performances ain an afternoon to forget. Many will bemoan the inexperienced referee in charge of the game but in truth, Palace failed to deal with the tactics their opposition employed to cause problems.
PLAYER RATINGS
1 Vicente Guaita (6), 2 Joel Ward (7), 5 James Tomkins (6), 6 Marc Guehi (7), 3 Tyrick Mitchell (6), 23 Conor Gallagher (7), 8 Cheikhou Kouyate (7), 4 Luka Milivojevic (6), 11 Wilfried Zaha (6), 7 Michael Olise (6), 20 Christian Benteke (6)
SUBSTITUTES – 1 Jack Butland, 9 Jordan Ayew (6 – replaced Olise on 87 mins), 10 Eberechi Eze (6 – replaced Milivojevic on 60 mins), 12 Will Hughes, 15 Jeffrey Schlupp, 22 Odsonne Edouard (6 – replaced Zaha on 72 mins), 34 Martin Kelly
OPPOSITION LINE-UP
1 Martinez, 2 Cash, 4 Konsa, 5 Mings, 3 Targett, 7 McGinn, 19 Nakamba, 41 Ramsey, 31 Bailey, 11 Watkins, 18 Young
SUBSTITUTES – 6 Douglas Luiz (replaced Ramsey on 67 mins), 8 Sanson, 10 Buendia (replaced Young on 85 mins), 12 Steer, 16 Tuanzebe, 20 Ings, 21 El Ghazi (replaced Bailey on 77 mins), 30 Hause, 33 Chukwuemeka
POST GAME QUOTES
PATRICK VIEIRA – “I was disappointed because we didn’t play the way we know we can. We played against a really good side, they made it difficult for us, but we were quite slow. We didn’t create enough and we didn’t defend well enough and when you don’t do that it is always difficult to get something from the game.
We need to work on set pieces. We are there and we want to compete but we don’t do it well enough. We never find a way to get back into the game after that, we didn’t create enough and our passing wasn’t good enough and we didn’t deserve to get anything from the game. We created in the second half and tried to stretch them a bit by getting in behind. Everything in the first half was in front of them and it was comfortable for them.”
STEVEN GERRARD – “It is a really big win. The players deserve a lot of credit. We’re asking and demanding a lot of them. They have applied themselves fantastically well. It is a difficult place to come with a great atmosphere. We had to dig in and suffer at times. At this level you have to accept that. At times we played with real quality and could have scored more goals today.”
MATCH STATISTICS
The Who Scored man of the match was John McGinn (8.8) while Christian Benteke, John McGinn and Ashley Young (3) had the most shots. The most tackles were made by John McGinn (7) who also had the most dribbles (3).
- Team rating: 6.43 – 6.90
- Total shots: 8 – 10
- Shots on target: 3 – 3
- Possession: 632.% – 36.8%
- Pass success: 87% – 79%
- Passes: 562 – 333
- Dribbles: 7 – 8
- Aerials won: 12 – 12
- Tackles: 21 – 25
- Fouls: 12 – 10
- Corners: 7 – 3
- Saves: 1 – 2
- Dispossessed: 13 – 19
POSITION IN THE TABLE
At the final whistle Palace were 10th in the Premier League table with 16 points from 13 games played, a point behind Manchester United in 9th and level with Aston Villa in 11th.
UPCOMING FIXTURES
30/11/21 Leeds United (a) – Premier League (8.15pm)
05/12/21 Manchester United (a) – Premier League (2pm)
12/12/21 Everton (h) – Premier League (4.30pm)
