Daniel Feliciano

Fri 19 August 2022 12:58, UK

Paul Merson is expecting a close game at Selhurst Park when Aston Villa travel to take on Crystal Palace on Saturday afternoon.

The Villans picked up their first three points of the season with a 2-1 win over Everton last weekend, bouncing back from the opening day defeat to Bournemouth, while Palace earned a big draw at Anfield on Monday after their opening day defeat to Arsenal.

Merson, who played for Villa between 1998 and 2002, told Sportskeeda in his weekly column that Palace should expect a completely different game from those and is predicting a 1-1 draw.

“Aston Villa scored an early goal against Everton last weekend and added another late in the game to secure all three points,” he said.

“Crystal Palace, on the other hand, played on the counter-attack against Liverpool at Anfield and got a well-deserved point.

“However, this week, I think Palace will find it a bit hard because they will have to take the game to Aston Villa. Patrick Vieira’s teams have shown that they can play some blistering football on the break, but stylistically, this will be a different game to what was the case against Liverpool last weekend.

“I really like what Vieira has done since taking over the reigns at Selhurst Park – he’s completely and utterly revamped the squad while also adopting a different brand of football.

“It’s a tough game to call, so I’m going for a 1-1 draw.”

Tough

When Gerrard arrived at Villa Park last season one of his first games was a 2-1 win over Palace at Selhurst Park, while the home game saw the two sides draw 1-1 thanks to a late Jeffrey Schlupp goal.

But with improvements that have come in the transfer window, this Villa team is still trying to find it’s identity and way of playing under the manager.

They’re currently in between being a possession based team and a counter attacking team, and it doesn’t help that the manager is still trying to figure out what his best team is.

It’s something he needs to address, but the squad is strong enough to compete at a high level this season and that means winning tough games like this one.

Fans will hope to see a great improvement in their performances over the course of the season, and while Merson is right that it will be tough this is where the team get to show what their level is.

In other Aston Villa news, Predicted XI vs Crystal Palace – Emiliano Buendia to come in with key man axed