Ismaïla Sarr strikes twice in Crystal Palace goal-fest as Aston Villa implode

Birthday boy Ismaïla Sarr ended Crystal Palace’s two-month wait for a home victory as Adam Wharton starred on his return from injury to deal a major blow to Aston Villa’s hopes of qualifying for the Champions League again.

It was a night when everything seemed to go Oliver Glasner’s way as Unai Emery saw his side succumb to a seventh defeat in their last nine away matches in the Premier League.

Having found a way back into the game at the start of the second half thanks to an equaliser from Morgan Rogers after he had seen another goal disallowed for the narrowest of offsides, Villa were blown away as Jean-Philippe Mateta and Sarr’s second on the Senegal forward’s 27th birthday sealed only a third league win of the campaign at Selhurst Park for Palace.

Substitute Eddie Nketiah added a fourth in stoppage time but it was the imperious Wharton, who had surgery on a groin injury in October after being called up for England’s Euro 2024 squad, who stole the show and he received a standing ovation when he was withdrawn with Palace cruising towards victory.

Emery acknowledged that the rigours of a long season meant that he had to take some tough decisions over his team selection as they prepared for a first away game since losing to Wolves more than three weeks ago. He opted to match up with Palace’s three at the back, with Marcos Asensio and Marcus Rashford again starting on the bench despite their match-winning exploits against Chelsea on Saturday.

The last time Wharton started a Premier League game at the end of October, Palace had yet to register a victory after eight attempts and the England midfielder limped off in the first half against Tottenham with a groin injury that kept him on the sidelines for nearly four months.

In his absence, Glasner has overseen a steady climb up the table thanks to their impressive away form that has yielded four straight victories thanks to their ability to hit teams on the break. They have struggled to replicate the same success in front of their own supporters and at first found an organised Villa side difficult to break down despite the best efforts of Wharton in front of England manager Thomas Tuchel.

Watching both managers prowling the touchline in their black puffer jackets was almost more entertaining than events on the pitch as Emery reacted to every duel and misplaced pass. He had his head in his hands when Youri Tielemens glanced a cross from Andrés García wide of the far post before Jacob Ramsey saw his goal disallowed for offside.

The breakthrough finally came at the other end on the half-hour mark when Villa failed to clear a corner and Sarr almost got on the end of a cross from Eberechi Eze. The ball came out to Wharton and he picked out the unmarked Chris Richards, whose header was parried straight into the path of the gleeful Sarr.

The goal seemed to have lifted a collective weight from the Palace players’ shoulders as they suddenly came alive, with Ezra Konsa having to throw himself in front of a goalbound Eze shot before Emiliano Martínez parried Sarr’s brilliant volley from another Eze cross. Rogers thought he had equalised on the stroke of half-time but, to Emery’s clear disgust, Watkins’ knee was adjudged to have been offside when he was played through in the buildup.

There were boos for Robin Olsen when he replaced Martínez for the second half after the Villa goalkeeper forced a half-time penalty shootout featuring the mascots to take place at the other end when he refused to budge from the goalmouth as he completed his warm-up. Emery also introduced Leon Bailey off the bench, although it was his goalkeeper who could take credit for their equaliser.

Richards should have dealt better with Olsen’s long punt forward and Rogers made no mistake after latching onto a flick on from Watkins. Their joy was short-lived, however, as Wharton combined brilliantly with Eze on the edge of the Villa area to set up Mateta, who hammered his shot past Olsen for his 12th Premier League goal of the season. It could have been even worse for the visitors had Eze controlled another sumptuous through ball from the imperious Wharton.

That prompted Emery to turn to Rashford and Asensio once, even if it was a surprise to see Watkins make way.

But it was Palace who underlined their dominance when Sarr rounded off his birthday celebrations by volleying home Daniel Muñoz’s cross to the delight of the home supporters before Nketiah finished off the scoring in injury-time by tapping in Tyrick Mitchell’s cross.