Matchday three in the English Premier League sees Crystal Palace host Aston Villa at Selhurst Park for another managerial battle between two legendary former midfielders. Steven Gerrard’s Villa side come into this match after their first win of the season while Patrick Vieira’s Crystal Palace are still seeking their first. The Eagles were handed a tough opening to the 2022/23 season with Arsenal and Liverpool the first two matches of the season. Palace players should take encouragement from a hard-fought point at Anfield in a 1-1 draw against Liverpool in their last outing. For the visiting Aston Villa, they’ll be looking to make it back-to-back wins after a 2-1 triumph over Everton at home in their last match. Steven Gerrard got his first Premier League away win as a manager at this ground last season, defeating Palace 2-1 on the day.
Crystal Palace should be raring to go in this one and the fans will be expecting the team to get the new season off and running with the league win. Despite the tough opening schedule, Palace were actually quite good against Arsenal and looked dangerous going forward despite being kept off the scoresheet. Of course, Vieira’s men did excellently to get a point at Anfield even with the man advantage they held for the majority of the second half. The visiting Aston Villa are coming off an emotion filled win against Everton with the publicity surrounding the Gerrard vs Lampard subplot. They’ll have to refocus their attention to the task at hand however as this Palace team is not one to be taken lightly.