Crystal Palace vs Aston Villa LIVE: Eagles blow Villa away to soar into FA Cup final
A place in the domestic showpiece is on the line in an intriguing clash at Wembley
Crystal Palace blew away Aston Villa at Wembley to give themselves a shot at lifting a first FA Cup trophy in their history.
After a slow start, Ebereche Eze fired in a stunner to bring the semi-final clash to life, just as he did in Palace’s last-eight tie at Craven Cottage.
Villa thought they had renewed hope when Jean-Philippe Mateta missed his penalty soon after the restart - but were quickly dealt a hammer blow when Ismaila Sarr doubled Palace’s lead from range.
Sarr put the icing on the cake in stoppage time as he slotted past Emi Martinez, sealing the Eagles’s place in only their third ever FA Cup final - now on the verge of a first major title.
Follow all of the latest from the FA Cup semi-final with our live blog below:
Crystal Palace 2-0 Aston Villa
81 mins: CLOSE! HUGE chances at BOTH ends!
Sarr latches onto Kamada’s cross and should have made it 3-0 - only for his header to go just wide.
Then up the other end, Mitchell makes a vital intervention to prevent Watkins from a tap-in.
This one is far from over, action-wise.
Crystal Palace 2-0 Aston Villa
79 mins: Mateta might have missed a penalty, but he’s been absolutely outstanding today.
He’s put everything into this outing, going forward and defensively, and is given a rousing ovation by the Palace end as he makes way for Nketiah.
Malen is also on for Rogers as Emery makes one last roll of the dice.
Crystal Palace 2-0 Aston Villa
77 mins: Villa just can’t get through this Palace back-line, and as they commit bodies forward, they’re looking increasingly vulnerable at the back.
Palace almost catch them out with a long ball but fortunately for Villa, it bounces through to Martinez.
Crystal Palace 2-0 Aston Villa
75 mins: Mateta has been a nuisance up front but he’s shown his worth at the back there as well - a perfectly-timed tackle to deny Barkley from having a shot at goal.
Crystal Palace 2-0 Aston Villa
72 mins: Lovely by Mateta to set Sarr into the box, who pulls it across where no Palace shirt is waiting.
As Villa prepare to take the throw, Mateta stands in front and gets the Palace fans going. He knows how to work a crowd.
Crystal Palace 2-0 Aston Villa
71 mins: Barkley, just on, shoots from outside the box but his effort rolls wide.
Crystal Palace 2-0 Aston Villa
69 mins: Palace are frustrating Villa as Rogers tries to drive into the box, but there’s no way through.
Unai Emery feels now is the time for change as he brings on Barkey and Ramsey in place of Asensio and Kamara.
Crystal Palace 2-0 Aston Villa
66 mins: OFF THE LINE! So nearly a way back into this for Villa!
Henderson spills his catch and it drops to Bailey, but there’s just too many bodies on the line for him to squeeze his shot in.
It actually was blocked by Villa teammate Pau Torres, as a goal-kick is given.
Crystal Palace 2-0 Aston Villa
62 mins: You really felt that Mateta’s penalty miss gave Villa renewed hope of a comeback - but a moment of brilliance from Sarr has provided Palace with serious daylight.
That said, it only takes one from Emery’s side to get back in this - Tielemans just had a crack from range that went just over.
All is not lost for Villa just yet.
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