Crystal Palace vs Aston Villa Prediction: Eagles can set up a third shot at glory

Crystal Palace are on course to complete another solid Premier League campaign and are hoping to stay on the trophy trail when taking on Aston Villa (17:15, BBC One) in Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final at Wembley. Oliver Glasner’s side are 12th in the top-flight and only four points behind eighth-placed Bournemouth in the battle for European qualification.

But their main focus is on a shot at glory as they prepare to face Villa, who are seven-time FA Cup winners. Villa won a lot of admirers with their run to the Champions League quarter-finals and remain hopeful of rounding off the campaign by securing a famous piece of silverware. Below you can find my Crystal Palace vs Aston Villa predictions.

Football Odds

Team news

Palace defender Chris Richards is back in contention after a one-match suspension, but Chadi Riad and Cheick Doucoure (both knee) are unavailable. Ben Chilwell (illness) will need to be assessed.

Villa are without cup-tied Chelsea loanee Axel Disasi, but they have an otherwise fully-fit squad for Unai Emery to select from.

Crystal Palace vs Aston Villa Odds

Crystal Palace are 12/5 to win the contest without extra-time or penalties.

Aston Villa are 6/5 to win within the 90 minutes plus injury-time, while the draw (meaning extra-time has to be played) is on offer at 12/5.

A tight match is envisaged with over 2.5 goals (extra-time not included) at 1/1, while under 2.5 can be backed at 4/5. Betfred also have released new markets such a first goalscorer body part special, where you can back Marcus Rashford to open the scoring with his right foot at 7/1. In another new market, you can now pick the area of the goal the player scores in - for example, if you fancy Rashford to score first with any body part into the top left corner, that is 50/1!

Crystal Palace draw no bet @ 11/8

Palace are 12 points below the Villans in the Premier League, but have a strong recent head-to-head record against the Midlanders and look overpriced for a Wembley win.

Glasner has done a quietly impressive job in the Palace dugout and has them in contention to surpass last season’s 49-point Premier League tally.

He has also shown a strong commitment to the FA Cup by selecting strong teams in every round of the competition. Glasner’s side were rampant 3-0 winners at Fulham in the quarter-finals and they look in good shape to produce another stellar performance.

The Londoners will have huge respect for Villa, who were Champions League quarter-finalists and remain in the hunt for a top-five Premier League finish. But Villa are approaching the game in a slightly downbeat mood after conceding an injury-time goal in Tuesday’s damaging 2-1 defeat at Manchester City.

Villa have competed well across multiple competitions, but they have had some tough experiences against Palace, who defeated them three times in the last four meetings.

Palace were 4-1 winners at home to Villa in last month’s Premier League contest and are overpriced to frank the form this weekend.

Ismaila Sarr to score any time @ 3/1

Palace are strong in all areas but their attacking trio - Jean Philippe Mateta, Eberechi Eze and Ismaila Sarr - could hold the key to them reaching the FA Cup final.

Mateta is Palace’s top scorer with 17 goals across all competitions, while Eze tops their Premier League assist charts with eight.

However, Sarr bagged a brace in last month’s 4-1 league win over Villa and he looks overpriced to add to his nine-goal season’s tally.

Offers

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We will be Top Price on Aston Villa to beat Crystal Palace in 90 mins with selected bookmakers using Oddschecker for the comparison. (Available from 09:30 Saturday)

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