Unai Emery shares what Crystal Palace did far better than Aston Villa during 4-1 win over his side

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Crystal Palace hammered Aston Villa at Selhurst Park on Tuesday evening.

Two goals from Ismaila Sarr on his 27th birthday, along with strikes by Jean-Philippe Mateta and Eddie Nketiah, moved the Eagles up to 12th in the Premier League, where they now sit eight points off fifth place.

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
12	Crystal PalaceCrystal Palace	27	9	9	9	35	33	2	36

It was a shock result in many ways – with Aston Villa comfortably in the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 and impressing for most of this season – so Unai Emery will surely be scratching his head.

The Spaniard did – however – praise Crystal Palace in his interview after the final whistle.

Unai Emery admits Crystal Palace outdid Aston Villa when it comes to duels

Speaking to the BBC, the 53-year-old said: “They score a second goal, then they were getting some transitions (counter-attacks). They were better than us in the duels and we lost, but we have to accept it. A little bit disappointed.”

Emery is not wrong.

WhoScored shows that Crystal Palace – who want Hayden Hackney – remarkably made 32 tackles on Tuesday, compared to just eight from Aston Villa.

Oliver Glasner also watched his side make 23 clearances compared to 14 from the Villans, while Crystal Palace registered one more interception as well with ten in total.

It was a tireless display from the south Londoners – which ended with icing on the cake as Eddie Nketiah scored his first Premier League goal for Crystal Palace in the 91st minute.

Oliver Glasner has masterminded an impressive turnaround at Crystal Palace

Eight games into the 2024/25 campaign, many were discussing Crystal Palace as relegation candidates after failing to win any of those matches.

However, since securing a 1-0 victory over Tottenham on matchday nine, Crystal Palace have done well enough to sit fourth, in a metaphorical Premier League table which excludes the first eight games.

Having been without Adam Wharton and Cheick Doucoure for most of the campaign – and after losing Michael Olise and Joachim Andersen last summer – that is very impressive work from Glasner.