It’s not surprising that Villa topped the Premier League ranks for most yellow cards drawn last season seeing as they also topped the foul won rankings as I covered in the Guehi section.

Palace were shown two yellow cards in this fixture last season and received three cautions in both of the other head to head meetings at Selhurst Park and Wembley. Palace picked up 74 yellow cards across their 38 Premier League games last season (1.94 per game).

Palace have also been shown 3+ cards in both of their Premier League matches so far this season. They also covered this line in their Conference League qualifier during the week.

Aston Villa have had an underwhelming start to the season but I think they could finally click here against a Palace side that is bound to be fatigued following their trip to Norway during the week.

Aston Villa scored two goals in this fixture last season as the sides played out a 2-2 draw. Villa were incredibly strong in front of their home fans last year, losing just one of their 19 home games - Liverpool were the only other side to lose just one of their home games last season.

Villa netted 34 goals across these games (1.78 per game), which is an encouraging record when also considering the wider circumstances surrounding the game. Not only will Palace be fatigued, but they will be facing their first proper test on the road without Eberechi Eze. I think his loss will take some getting used to, and I back Villa to make the most of that transition and brush off their sluggish start to the season.

Mateta is yet to score in the Premier League this season but he has had five shots across his opening two games of the season with three of these attempts finding the target.

Mateta enjoyed playing against Aston Villa last season, he had a shot on target in two of the three games the sides contested last year with the Frenchman getting on the scoresheet in Palace’s 4-1 win over Villa at Selhurst Park.

Mateta scored 14 goals in the Premier League last season which marks the second season in which Mateta has reached double digits for goals in the English top flight. He had 33 shots on target across his 33 starts in the Premier League last season (1.12 per 90).

Guehi committed a foul in Palace’s opening game of the Premier League season away against Chelsea. He’ll be regularly tested here by an Aston Villa side that won more fouls than any other team in the Premier League last season (13.3 per game).

Palace committed 19 fouls in their 4-1 win over Villa at Selhurst Park with Guehi committing a foul on that occasion. Guehi also committed a foul in the 2-2 draw between the sides at Villa Park last season in a game which saw Crystal Palace commit 11 fouls.

Aston Villa have won 11 fouls in both of their Premier League games so far this season against Newcastle and Brentford. In both games, both centre backs committed a foul as they struggled to deal with the dynamism of the Villa frontline.

Interestingly, John McGinn has been playing on the right for Villa in the early stages of the season. It hasn’t been that effective so Emery may move away from this, but this would pit McGinn directly up against Guehi who operates as the left centre back in a back three for Palace.

McGinn averaged 2.78 fouls won per 90 in the Premier League last season and was fouled twice in Villa’s 1-0 defeat to Brentford last time out.

Watkins had five shots in this fixture last season and scored with one of his two efforts that found the target. He’s been quite isolated in the early parts of the season, but that’s more to do with Villa as a whole rather than a drop off in his individual performance.

Watkins is still a real handful, even though he is yet to find the back of the net; he drew fouls from both Burn and Schar in the opening game of the season at Villa Park, which would suggest that he’s still making the same runs. Watkins’ movement is what sets him apart from other strikers in this league and why Emery has been able to develop him. If he continues to make these runs, he will get chances.

Watkins scored 16 goals in the Premier League last season, having netted 19 in the season prior, so he is one of the top-performing strikers in the Premier League over the last few seasons and can replicate his performance against Palace from last campaign.

The Palace back three are amongst the most settled backlines in the Premier League. Glasner has consistently gone with a trio of Richards, Lacroix and Guehi which has proven to be a really tough trio to crack this calendar year.

Lacroix is the most aggressive of the three which is quite interesting seeing as he usually plays as the central centre back in Palace’s system. He picked up five yellow cards in the Premier League last season and has already received his first caution of this campaign which came last time out against Nottingham Forest.

It’s no secret that Palace are a very effective side from corners. 31% of the Eagles’ goals in the Premier League last season came from set pieces with Guehi, Lacroix and Richards all acting as real threats from these situations.

Palace also led the Premier League for the most goals scored from corners last season (11) which shows just how much Oliver Glasner’s side rely on these situations. This could be even more obvious in the absence of Eberechi Eze leaving Palace with little creativity in phases of open play.

Villa dominated the corner count in all three head to head meetings between the sides last season but I expect Palace to lean on this avenue slightly more this time around in the absence of a real creative spark in the side.