Aston Villa Banned From Champions League After Defeat From Crystal Palace For Causing Given the Eagles’ late-season form, the Spaniard really wouldn’t have wanted to run against hat-trick hero Jean-Philippe Mateta and two-goal scorer Eberechi Eze with a top-four finish on the line.
Seen by a sun-kissed Selhurst Park crowd, the hosts’ spectacular finale featured the two goal scorers along with Michael Olise in such a confident and devastating mood.
Villa’s long, and admittedly injury-plagued, campaign came to a juddering conclusion as they suffered their worst Premier League defeat since falling to Manchester City 6-1 three years ago. Having just made it over the finish line earlier this week, Villa simply tumbled into a heap in south London.
Villa would have faced a difficult opponent any time they faced Oliver Glasner’s revitalized Eagles, who entered the match fresh off a six-game winning streak. The slightest possibility existed that it wouldn’t be extended yesterday.
Emery’s team has demonstrated their own worth thus far this season by qualifying for the final four; the only issue was that they encountered a Palace team that was determined to claim the top spot yesterday. And nobody was a better example of that than man-mountain Mateta, who had a field day when Villa’s improvised defense allowed him to take control of south London.
After winning the match, he was denied a second chance due to a VAR ruling in which the boundaries were established to allow for both outcomes.
The opener was generated by Olise, who was so influential that he received bookings when Lucas Digne, Douglas Luiz, and John McGinn fouled him. The Frenchman, who was so adept at grabbing the ball on a half-turn with his left foot and then tearing past his defenders, gave Villa the lead in the ninth minute when Mateta made a diagonal move that was missed.
The large striker struck a left-footed shot that found the bottom corner. That made his previous 13 outings total 11 points. He was going to get better.
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