Crystal Palace were denied their first win of the year as they suffered a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Aston Villa in the Premier League.
Having failed to win any of their last six visits to Villa Park since their 1-0 win in December 2013, Patrick Vieira's men came into the weekend with plenty of records to correct.
The Eagles' last victory came on New Year's Eve, when they edged out Bournemouth 2-0 at the Vitality Stadium, and they were looking to end their 10-game winless run.
As for Aston Villa, they were looking to avoid a third consecutive home defeat following successive losses against Leicester City and Arsenal in their two games at Villa Park in February.
Unai Emery, who has done a tremendous job of steering the Villans clear of the relegation zone, was eyeing his first Premier League victory over Crystal Palace in four attempts.
Vieira's side had the ball in the back of the net in the fifth minute courtesy of a neat finish from Wilfried Zaha, but after a lengthy VAR review, the goal was chalked off after the Ivorian forward was judged offside.
This served as a wake-up call for Aston Villa, who were soon rewarded for their sustained period of pressure as they took a deserved lead thanks to a 27th-minute own goal from Palace defender Joachim Andersen.
Superb build-up play from the Villans saw John McGinn release Matty Cash into acres of space on the right before the Poland international's low cross was inadvertently turned into the net by the defending Andersen.
Aston Villa have now found the back of the net in each of their 12 games since Emery's appointment in November — their longest run since scoring in 17 consecutive matches in 2009.
BACK-TO-BACK WINS. UTV! 🙌 #AVLCRY pic.twitter.com/tYbgA1p1yn
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) March 4, 2023
With his strike in last week's win over Everton, Ollie Watkins took his league tally to eight for the season while also becoming the first Villa player to score in five consecutive Premier League matches.
However, the 27-year-old fluffed a glorious chance to double the lead on the stroke of half time as he drilled his shot wide of the post after brilliant play from Emiliano Buendia put the Englishman one-on-one with Vicente Guaita.
After going goalless in the first half at Villa Park, Crystal Palace have now failed to score a first-half goal in each of their last eight matches, a run stretching back to their 2-1 FA Cup defeat against Southampton on January 7.
Boubacar Kamara, who has started each of Aston Villa's 10 league matches this year and has been pivotal in their resurgence under Emery, was forced off with a 57th-minute injury following a heavy tackle from Cheick Doucoure.
Barely five minutes later, Crystal Palace were reduced to 10 men as Doucoure picked up a second booking and his first sending-off of the season for a late challenge on substitute Calum Chambers.
Having scored just four goals in the league since the turn of the year, it was all bark and no bite in attack for the Eagles once again as they failed to pose any serious threat to Emiliano Martinez in the Villa goal.
Watkins's dreams of equalling Andy Gray's 45-year record of scoring in six consecutive Premier League games for Aston Villa came to an end in the 85th minute when the former Brentford man was substituted off for Colombian teenager Jhon Duran.
Added time of five minutes was not enough for Crystal Palace to salvage what would have been a fourth draw in five matches and they must now be looking over their shoulders as they sit just six points above the relegation zone.
As for Emery's men, they have now picked up back-to-back league victories with clean sheets for the first time this season to remain level on 34 points with 10th-placed Chelsea in the Premier League table.
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