Crystal Palace 4 Aston Villa 1: Adam Wharton runs the show on return to starting XI in front of England boss Tuchel
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Ismaila Sarr – what a wonderful way to celebrate your big day.The Senegal striker marked his 27th birthday with two brilliant goals – scored against different goalkeepers – as clinical Crystal Palace returned to winning ways at Selhurst Park.Ismaila Sarr scored twice to sink Aston VillaCredit: GettyJean-Philippe continued his good goalscoring formCredit: ReutersAdam Wharton ran the match on his first start after three months out injuredCredit: GettyThe ex-Watford star became just the third Palace player to score a Premier League goal on his birthday after Christian Benteke (against Bournemouth in 2016) and Luka Milivojevic (against Southampton in 2018).As Sarr blew out the candles on his cake, the result was a huge blow to Unai Emery’s hopes of Aston Villa keeping pace with the top-four spots as they slipped two places down to tenth.After meeting the future King, new England boss Thomas Tuchel went from Windsor Palace to the (Crystal) Palace for the evening’s entertainment.And the decision to visit atmospheric SE25 was a wise one given there were TEN Englishmen involved across the two starting line-ups.READ MORE IN FOOTBALLThere were six for Palace and four for Villa but Manchester United’s on-loan ace Marcus Rashford, the winner of 60 England caps, had to wait until being introduced on 68 minutes – and when he did appear, he did not offer much as Villa really struggled.There has been considerable criticism for Tuchel’s apparent work-from-home policy – he has spent more time with his family in Germany rather than sit in the cold at English football grounds – but there was plenty to ponder as he watched the homegrown contingent.For Adam Wharton, making his first Premier League start since October, this was a timely moment to show off his abilities to England’s third overseas manager in history.The 21-year-old midfielder – an unused member of Gareth Southgate’s Three Lions squad at the 2024 European Championships – has had his minutes managed by boss Oliver Glasner.Most read in FootballJOIN SUN VEGAS: GET £50 BONUSThis is because he had surgery last autumn for a persistent groin problem and was absent for four months in the middle of the campaign.Pain-free and fully recovered, his return to the picture after three sub appearances was at the expense of Colombian Jefferson Lerma, who had started in the superb 2-0 win at Fulham last Saturday.Crystal Palace and Lyon chief John Textor wears cowboy hat in sarcastic response to rivalAnd on 29 minutes, the Lancastrian showed Tuchel that he possesses a wand of a left foot because it was his delivery that gave the home side the opener.The former Blackburn Rovers man switched the ball right to left and then whipped in the cross, which survived a VAR check because while Tyrick Mitchell was offside, he was not interfering with play.And though Emiliano Martinez stopped the initial header from Chris Richards, the Argentine World Cup-winning goalkeeper could not prevent Sarr from scoring at the back post.Several minutes before that opener, Villa had had a goal disallowed for offside as Ollie Watkins brilliantly fed in Jacob Ramsey – a lovely England 1-2 combination – but the finish was all in vain.On that occasion, it was the right call by VAR, a clear and obvious error from the on-field team.The Stockley Park officials were drawing their lines on the screen three minutes before half-time and my goodness, how infuriatingly close for Villa it was.Rogers played in Watkins – who, in turn, provided the return pass – but the latter’s knee was adjudged to have been offside.Emery, whose side could have gone fifth with a win, celebrated like a maniac on the touchline but that joy quickly disappeared and he could only look on with bemusement as it was scrubbed out.Now, Martinez might be trademarked these days as the world’s best goalkeeper but he simply cannot keep any clean sheets.It is 16 out of 17 games in a row where he has had to retrieve the ball from his net at least once.Though he did redeem himself with one decent save from Sarr, Martinez was replaced at half-time for fitness reasons by sub Robin Olsen.the-sun-22-23-heat-map-af243e58-a164-483b-ab95-9a423dbb4314In true pantomime fashion, the giant Swedish stopper was booed loudly by the Holmesdale Fanatics behind him.That is because during the half-time break he stopped some small kids from having some fun shots as it was disrupting his warm-up routines.Olsen was the one laughing on 52 minutes when he launched the ball ‘route one’ like Wimbledon used to do when they ground-shared here decades ago.Watkins won the header, outjumping defender Marc Guehi, and then Rogers demonstrated tremendous trickery to win possession of the bouncing ball with his head, twist past Chris Richards and then fire past Dean Henderson.Parity only lasted for seven minutes becauseMateta is a man in form and playing with supreme confidence and he fired past Olsen after being played in by Eze and Wharton.It was his 12th Prem goal this season and eight of those have come this calendar year, a tally matched by Liverpool’s Mo Salah in 2025.READ MORE SUN STORIESOn 71 minutes, Sarr made his special day even better as he hooked in a Daniel Munoz cut-back and though party-pooping VAR tried to spoil everything with a check, this was an evening for him and his family to remember.And there was one final English combination for Tuchel to enjoy as Mitchell crossed for Eddie Nketiah to score on an excellent night for the Eagles. More
