Crystal Palace – Aston Villa

In the capital of England, a match will take place with both sides converting their goal-scoring chances.

One of the most notable matches of the latest Boxing Day round will see two teams with similar traits. Having appointed Oliver Glasner as head coach in February 2024, Crystal Palace's board pulled off a lucky break. The Austrian specialist, under whom Roy Hodgson had Crystal Palace's longest spell in charge, transformed the not-so-star-studded London club into the winner of the FA Cup and the FA Community Shield in just one and a half seasons. However in this season Crystal Palace is experiencing the typical problems of not-so-great clubs that set the bar high but are not ready to sustain it. The first months of the new season under Glasner looked good, but now they have slid to 14th place, a position below which they finished only once since their last ascent to the Premier League — ten years ago. Aston Villa is similar to Crystal Palace in that after the arrival of Unai Emery, they also quickly began achieving high results. However the situation in the Villans camp differs in that Emery's work has withstood the test of time and a few dips in form, which in other cases often lead to managerial sackings. Now the Birmingham club is an undisputed candidate for a place in the Premier League's Champions League spots and, with some stretch, can be considered a title contender. Bookmakers have made the visitors the favorites for the upcoming match, offering odds of 2.35 on their victory. The tough spell at Crystal Palace is currently characterized by a run of seven winless matches. Five of them came in the Premier League and ended with four defeats and one draw. Yet the Glaziers haven't become any less dangerous in their current situation. The squad of players valued at more than half a billion euros can beat any opponent, as has been proven many times. Aston Villa after the defeat to Arsenal did not mourn for long and already in the next round beat Nottingham Forest. Now the Villans have twelve wins in their last thirteen fixtures. Let's bet on both teams to score.