Crystal Palace swept the Aston Villa aside to win the FA Cup semi-final on Saturday evening and book their place in the final of the next month while chasing a first big trophy.
Eberechi Eze broke the deadlock with a good goal in the first half before Jean-Philippe Mateta, who also had a goal during the competition, missed the opportunity shortly after the break to double this advantage from the penalty point.
But Palace did not allow this moment to let her false. Ismaila Sarr quickly got a second after the penalty case before grabbing the aftermath in added time after his second and Palace.
How the game unfolds
With so much on the game for these two clubs, the early phases of the game were understandably cage. A yellow card for both sides and an ambitious shot from a distance from the Villa midfielder Boubacar Kamara, which flew over the bar, was everything the opening area really characterized.
But things broke into more life than the villa went close to Morgan Rogers for about 25 minutes. The Lucas Digne crossed a couple in the box from the left before it reached Rogers, whose effort bounced down in the lawn and far from the post.
Palace reacted quickly by putting the ball into the net through Mateta. The in-form striker chased a ball forward, seemed to exceed Ezri Konsa and calmly ended one to one, beyond Emiliano Martinez. Referee Anthony Taylor whistled a foul. It looked hard.
But the Eagles didn’t go long afterwards. The release of Pau Torres was closed and Ismaila Sarr steered a cut on the edge of the box, where Eze was at hand in a first finish to whip.
At the other end, Torres lacked a header when he tried to go well again before Konsa had a similar effort in front of the palace goalkeeper Dean Henderson.
The chances for both teams always came to both sides of the interval, Konsa simply could not reach John McGinn’s cross. Tyrick Mitchell slipped at the wrong moment that prepares for shooting. McGinn scored Henderson, who then has a strong effort from Digne.
Then Palace’s best chance came to extend the lead when Kamara Eze brought down in the penalty area. Taylor pointed to the spot and Mateta to put a more comfortable buffer in the score. But in his efforts to escape the large reach of Martinez, the Frenchman aimed his kick a little too far to the right and made the outside of the post when he missed the goal.
Fortunately, from the palace’s point of view, it was not the catalyst to bring the villa back into play. Instead, it only took five minutes after the missed penalty that the Eagles scored their second goal. As for the first time, it was another quick transition than Adam Wharton urged to cut off a Villa pass, the ball made its way to Sarr, which unleashed a low strike from a distance that was in the lower corner.
The replacement of Leon Bailey wanted to try to create things for villa without testing the palace that defended greatly. As much as he was an attack point, Mateta was back in his own penalty area to achieve an important duel, while Mitchell spread a ball that promised to give Ollie Watkins a tap-in.
In injury time Sarr made the result absolutely certain. The villa kept more high pressed box to play Sarr, and put Sarr the chance that Eddie Nketiah had got her Tielemans owned. Sarr made no mistake and made no mistake, one to one.
Take a look at the player reviews of Crystal Palace against Aston Villa.
Crystal Palace returns to the Wembley Stadium for the FA Cup final 2025 on Saturday, May 17th. Your opponent will be confirmed on Sunday when Manchester City and Nottingham Forest carry out the second semi -finals.
The Eagles have never won a large trophy and hope to change that. In view of your performance, you will not be frightened here from both clubs, to which you may be confronted.
It will only be a 13th trip to Wembley and has been her first final since 2016 when Jesse Lingard achieved the winner of Manchester United in extra time. The only other FA Cup final of Palace was also against Manchester United and came in 1990 when Ian Wright and Co. forced a repetition, but ultimately succumbed to defeat when Sir Alex Ferguson demanded a first trophy in English football.
In view of its form in this phase of the season, Eberechi EZ’s performance will only recharge with the transfer of speculations into the summer. The 26-year-old does it and has been associated with Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United in the past few weeks.
He achieved a good goal of the highest quality and intelligence against arsenal during the week and showed an extraordinary ability to influence a game again on a large stage.
Ismaila Sarr and Jean-Philippe Mateta earn enormously on Eze, like all in red and blue stripes. The three strikers were almost not playable, but it was the work that they were ready to hold the ball that contributed to define the tie.
All three palace goals were the product of the press and forced villa to lose the ball in their own half. The first came from a closed release, while the second and third parties expected to win the ball in dangerous attack positions on both occasions by anticipating Villa’s passport pattern and the immediate pressure on the receiving player – Youri Tielemans.
Every palace player has achieved a huge defensive shift and made the talented striker of Villa largely useless. Ollie Watkins was a passenger, Marco Asensio could not pull threads and there was simply no way through.
Defeat means that the Aston Villa now goes into a 30th year without a large trophy.
It was March 1996 when Brian Little Villa triumphed about Leeds United in the old Wembley in the Ligapokal Finals. Savo Milosevic, Ian Taylor and Dwight Yorke found the net that day.
Since then, the villa was about to break this drought and to lose the FA Cup final in 2000 and 2015 as well as the second-placed league cup in 2010 and 2020. They lifted a trophy in Wembley and won the play-off final of the championship in 2019, but crossed the line in a major competition.
Unai Emery’s side has no time to sit and lick her wounds. The Champions League qualification is in the Premier League in the Premier League, but only three points ahead of Chelsea, and is very within reach with a strong end of the campaign.
After the club and the fans had a Europe top level this season this season this season and Paris Saint-Germain will be a real run for their money and will be a unique value in the quarter-finals. From a financial point of view, there is also a great incentive. The remaining games against Fulham, Bournemouth, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United will define the season.