Aston Villa face Crystal Palace at Villa Park on Sunday with a 2.15 pm kick-off, in what surely must be Villa’s biggest game of the season.
Dean Smith’s side have to win on Sunday, otherwise, prospects of remaining in the Premier League will be looking very bleak.
Villa currently sit in a perilous position of 19th in the table, one off the bottom and seven points away from safety.
Palace, on the other hand, are in a comfortable 14th place, with four games remaining of the season.
The home side are on a shocking run of form, with no victories in their last ten league games.
Villa have only picked up two points in that time, with draws against Newcastle and Sheffield United.
The Eagles, given their name, are not exactly flying at the moment having lost their last four matches.
Prior to this recent dip in form, they had been on a winning run of four consecutive victories.
Villa’s goal-scoring has deserted them for the last three games, having failed to find the net.
For Palace, their troubles appear to be at the back where they have shipped ten goals in their last four games.
When these sides met back at the start of the season at Selhurst Park, a late Jordan Ayew strike was the difference between the two teams.
In previous meetings between the teams it is the Londoners who have the advantage with four wins to the Midlanders two, with only one match drawn.
All season, finding the back of the net has been the main problem for Villa, with no player yet hitting double figures.
Likewise, for Palace it is the same issue. Not enough goals scored this season with Ayew one short of double figures for the season.
Team News
Aston Villa have no new injury concerns going into Sunday’s game. Defender Matt Targett is in contention to return after two games out through injury.
Crystal Palace still have injury problems in defence, with Gary Cahill ruled out.
Score Prediction
So much pressure on the hosts for a win on Sunday. Having no crowd around may give them some belief and confidence to put on a big performance under pressure, but on current form that appears unlikely.
For Palace, they look like a side who are on the beach- albeit only for a few weeks- they need to get back to winning a game before the season is out. With both sides lack of firepower upfront, I can’t see anything other than a drawn game 0-0.
Match Preview written by Peter Moore.