Crystal Palace 4-1 Aston Villa: Ismaila Sarr proves his value as Oliver Glasner reacts to momentous win | OneFootball

Palace end their long wait for a Premier League home win

This was a momentous occasion for Crystal Palace, and one which left Oliver Glasner punching the air with some serious oomph.

They did so thanks to a brace by Ismaila Sarr on the occasion of his 27th birthday — he was brilliant throughout, and the £12.7million they paid Marseille to buy him last summer already looks a steal.

Both Mitchell and Nketiah have been England internationals at one time or other, of course, and the Three Lions’ manager Thomas Tuchel dodged Stamford Bridge, Molineux and the Amex to take his seat at Selhurst Park, just over two weeks out from naming his first squad for 2026 World Cup matches against Albania and Latvia. No fewer than 10 Englishmen for him to pay close attention to, between the two starting line-ups, including Villa’s Rogers and Palace pair Eberechi Eze and Adam Wharton.

The latter was making his first Premier League start since October following complications after groin surgery. At last, in late February, Glasner could pick a nigh on full-strength team.

Wharton had a hand in all of the first three goals and was at the heart of the opener — its curator, in fact — as he stood up a fabulous left-foot cross into the box, from which Emiliano Martinez pushed clear Chris Richards’s header. There to pounce was birthday-boy Sarr.

And Wharton’s ball into Eberechi Eze was crucial as Jean-Philippe Mateta put the Eagles back ahead for 2-1, just as his slid pass for Daniel Munoz made possible Sarr’s swept second and Palace’s third. Mitchell fired across the area for Nketiah to convert the fourth.

Eddie Nketiah celebrates scoring his first Premier League goal for Crystal Palace

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Villa’s goal was as easy on the eye as it was route-one. Goalkeeper Robin Olsen, on at half-time for Emiliano Martinez, pumped a long ball forward. Ollie Watkins stretched his neck muscles to head on, Rogers glanced the ball forward for himself, took two centre-backs out the game, and pirouetted with a deft finish in single motion that had Dean Henderson rooted.

The only question was whether Rogers’s equaliser, on 52 minutes, ought to have come earlier and been a different one. He had a first-half leveller overturned by VAR for a Watkins offside. The lines drawn by Jarred Gillett, though, were extraordinarily tight and by no means was it a clear and obvious error. Yet Villa perhaps ought to have been more aggrieved at their one-paced performance than by that one decision.

Palace fully deserved their win, skipping above Tottenham and into 12th because of it.