For the second time in as many seasons, Aston Villa suffered a heavy defeat away to Crystal Palace. This time, they were defeated 4-1 at the hands of Oliver Glasner’s side, in a very disappointing collapse.
After going into the break 1-0 down via a goal from Ismaila Sarr, Villa equalised fairly quickly after the interval thanks to a lovely goal from Morgan Rogers. However, the Eagles retook the lead just before the hour mark, then added a third and fourth, including another goal from Sarr, to seal a fantastic win for the Eagles.
It was a dismal performance from Unai Emery’s side, who struggled to handle the destructive Jean-Phillipe Mateta.
Aston Villa’s struggles against Mateta
There has not been a striker more in form in the Premier League in 2025 than Mateta. According to TNT Sport, no player in the English top flight has more goals than the Frenchman in this calendar year so far, with eight strikes.
Unfortunately for the Villans, they were on the receiving end of Mateta’s dominant form on Tuesday night. Despite playing with three centre-backs for the first time this season, the West Midlands club couldn’t handle Mateta.
Indeed, Birmingham Live journalist John Townley gave all three of Villa’s centre-backs, Lamar Bogarde, Axel Disasi and Ezri Konsa, a 4/10 rating at full-time. He explained that the Villans backline ‘was pulled apart’ after the halftime interval, which was certainly true given the four goals they conceded.
If anything, the Palace striker’s goal highlighted the struggles that Villa experienced at the back. Mateta was able to drift into acres of space, getting onto a loose ball and firing a shot home from inside the Villa box, relatively unchallenged.
It was a baptism of fire for Emery’s side, coming up against the Premier League’s most in-form player. Frustratingly, the West Midlands side perhaps sold their own version of the Palace striker.
Aston Villa already sold their own Mateta
Ollie Watkins is a fantastic player and has been crucial for Villa this season. The England international has 13 goals and ten assists in 37 games under Emery this term.
However, he can’t do it all alone, and perhaps Villa made the wrong call in selling his understudy in January.
Jhon Duran’s move from Villa Park to Saudi Arabian side Al Nassr made the Villans a fortune. He made the move to Cristiano Ronaldo’s side for upwards of £71m in the January transfer window.
However, there is no doubt that his departure has left a bit of a hole in the squad. The Colombian was scintillating for Villa, scoring 20 goals in 78 games.
However, he played just 2272 minutes in that famous Claret and Blue shirt, the equivalent of 25 full 90-minute games. He was deadly in front of goal, a “true monster” according to football talent scout Jacek Kulig.
Selling Duran might seem like a strange decision on reflection, given just how good of a goalscorer he is.
However, Jamie Carragher explained in January that he thought Villa should “go against the grain” and sell their striking sensation. Of course, they did just that.
Interestingly, over the last two domestic league seasons, Duran and Mateta are actually quite similar statistically on FBref.
For example, the Frenchman averages 0.39 goal-creating actions per game, compared to 0.4 by Duran, and both average 0.25 goals per shot.
|
Duran & Mateta key stats compared |
||
|---|---|---|
|
Stat (per 90) |
Duran |
Mateta |
|
Goals per shot |
0.25 |
0.25 |
|
Goals per shot on target |
0.55 |
0.52 |
|
Expected goals |
0.56 |
0.45 |
|
Shot-creating actions |
2.43 |
2.37 |
|
Goal-creating actions |
0.39 |
0.4 |
|
Stats from FBref |
||
Moving Duran on in the winter transfer window was a bold call from Villa. At the start of February, Emery and co were actually linked with a move for Mateta in the summer, as per journalist Graeme Bailey.
Perhaps they could have saved themselves a fortune by keeping one of the hottest prospects in football instead.
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