Aston Villa 3-0 Crystal Palace

Ten-man Aston Villa made it four matches unbeaten with a superb performance to register a 3-0 victory over Crystal Palace on Boxing Day.

The Villans showed spirit in abundance and mixed that with defensive resilience and attacking prowess to claim all three points in Dean Smith’s 100^th match in charge of the club.

Bertrand Traore put the hosts into a fifth-minute lead with his second goal in as many games before Tyrone Mings was sent off on the stroke of half-time having been shown a second yellow card.

But, despite playing the second half with 10 men, dominant Villa showed their quality in attack and Kortney Hause headed home in the 66^th minute before in-form Anwar El Ghazi registered his third goal in four games courtesy of a sensational finish off the inside of the far post.

Ollie Watkins, whose performance deserved a goal, struck the woodwork late on as Villa convincingly got back to winning ways on home soil for the first time since early October.

At the other end, Emi Martinez was again in fantastic form as he recorded an eighth clean sheet of the campaign, in what was captain Jack Grealish’s 200^th match for his boyhood club.

Villa now head to Chelsea on Monday for the next game of a hectic festive period looking to continue their impressive season.

Smith named an unchanged starting XI for the encounter from last weekend’s 3-0 win over West Bromwich Albion, with goalkeeper Tom Heaton returning to the club’s matchday 18 for the first time since New Year’s Day having recovered from knee ligament damage.

It was Martinez, already with seven clean sheets to his name this season, who proved his quality inside the opening minute to deny Wilfried Zaha when he broke clean through.

And the save proved even more significant moments later as Villa opened the scoring, Traore firing home from six yards after Watkins had seen his stinging effort parried into the middle of the penalty area by Vicente Guaita.

The summer signing was proving a lively threat and struck the base of a post from 20 yards in the 17^th minute, before playing in Grealish, who raced clear only to be denied by the legs of Guaita.

Matty Cash escaped punishment for a challenge inside the penalty area on Patrick van Aanholt following a lengthy check by VAR and referee Anthony Taylor midway through an entertaining first half.

But Villa’s task was made more difficult on the stroke of half-time as Mings was dismissed for a second bookable offence, with Ezri Konsa replacing Traore.

Martinez made two smart saves to preserve Villa’s advantage heading into the break, and an end-to-end encounter continued after the restart as Villa, despite being down to 10 men, continued to prove a threat.

And they doubled their advantage shortly after the hour mark. Watkins headed El Ghazi’s free-kick against the crossbar and Hause followed up to nod in the rebound via the aid of goal-line technology.

And it was 3-0 in the 76^th minute as El Ghazi rattled home a stunning finish from distance of the inside of the far post.

Joel Ward clipped the top of the crossbar for the visitors at the other end before Watkins struck the woodwork late on for Villa, who recorded back-to-back Boxing Day wins for the first time since 1988/89.

Villa: Martinez, Cash, Hause, Mings, Targett, Luiz (Ramsey 90+1), McGinn, Traore (Konsa 45+4), Grealish, El Ghazi (Elmohamady 86), Watkins.

Subs: Heaton, Guilbert, Taylor, Nakamba, Hourihane, Davis.