CRYSTAL CLEAR
Aston Villa 1 Crystal Palace 2: Champions League leaders dumped out of Carabao Cup as struggling Eagles reach quarters
Tyrone Mings made his first Villa start in 445 days
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UNAI EMERY’S high-flying Aston Villa were brought crashing back to earth by the resurgent Eagles.
Villa had been nigh on unbeatable this season, with mighty Bayern Munich the most impressive scalp.
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But Crystal Palace found a way to humble them…thanks to a hefty slice of shocking defending from Diego Carlos along the way.
Villa were trying to play it out from the back but never came close to finding John McGinn on the edge of his own box.
Instead he merely picked out Daichi Kamada, and the Japanese substitute jinked to his right, before firing back and low to his left, right into the bottom corner.
It was Villa’s first – and only – defeat since Arsenal beat them here in their first home game, and they can blame no-one but themselves.
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Emery’s men certainly had enough chances to have sealed it long before Kamada’s drive, midway through the second half.
Villa may have been all-change – only McGinn kicked off both Saturday’s game and this one – but it didn’t stop them creating plenty.
Leon Bailey warmed Matt Turner’s palms by whipping one to his near post, then nearly caught out the Palace keeper with a miss-hit, and that was all inside five minutes.
Yet once a full-strength Palace - and fair play to boss Oliver Glasner for that – steadied the ship, they hit back to snatch the lead.
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And when they did, an unwitting contribution from fit-again Tyrone Mings had a sizeable role in the build-up.
Mings was playing his first senior game since injuring his ACL in the opening game of LAST season 445 days ago, and clearly still some way off match fitness.
Although that didn’t have a hand in Eze’s goal, it was more ill-fortune when Adam Wharton’s ball struck the Villa centre back on the head and fell for Dani Munoz.
He delivered the perfect ball for Eze, who had peeled off into space and bulleted a header into the bottom corner.
Maybe it was the slap in the face Villa needed to spark them into life, or perhaps just a case of that new look line-up syncing with each other.
Although Palace admittedly weren’t helped by losing both Eze AND Wharton to injuries before we’d even reached half an hour, the latter leading to Kamada’s introduction.
Whatever the reason, Unai Emery’s men finally found their feet and pretty soon found the way to the Palace net as well.
Kamara started it by robbing Kamada and lofting a lovely pass to Leon Bailey on the right.
When he pulled it back, Jhon Duran swung a boot, and keeper Turner was left beating the ground in frustration, knowing he should have made a better fist of stopping it.
Duran then went close with a typical rampaging run and thundering angled strike which had Turner going full length to push away.
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But he wasn’t quite as controlled with a wild swipe as Kosta Nedeljkovic’s strike pinballed to him in the box, thrashing it a yard wide.
Certainly nothing like the precision Kamada showed in picking out the corner of Joe Gauci’s net, which ultimately proved enough to ease Palace into the last eight.
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