Crystal Palace vs. Aston Villa – English Premier League, May 16, 2021

With the relegation places already decided in the Premier League, there are several games this week that have no real importance in the grand scheme of things.

Palace also has a lot of players running out of their contracts, so it will be interesting to see whether their minds are really on this fixture against Villa on Sunday or not.

These relatively meaningless games at the end of the season are ones that can go either way. Some players might take the chance to earn another contract or a move away, while others will just be getting ready for a break.

BetOnline makes Villa the slight favorite here, and that is a good call, although the draw bet odds look pretty good.

Palace had no answer for the decisiveness of Ings and Adams in the week as it lost its fourth game in the last five. If it affords Villa the same kind of space, they’ll have another defeat to add to that stat. Roy Hodgson’s side had done enough to stay up in the weeks before the latest run of form but now look as though it is ready for the season to end.

The good news is that, for a team that has not been overly prolific this season, the Eagles have found the net regularly in the last month. They will need to keep that trend going as well on Sunday.

Aston Villa also has little to play for in the remaining three games and will feel like a European place is too far out of its reach, if mathematically still possible. But it has been an excellent season for the club after the struggles of last season, so Dean Smith and his players should still be on something of a high.

Villa will also have Ollie Watkins back in the starting lineup after being suspended for the Everton game in midweek. He is the club’s top goalscorer this season and will be looking forward to getting amongst the Palace defense after seeing how they failed to cope with Southampton.

There is a possibility that Crystal Palace will come out fighting on Sunday, but I’m not sure that anyone at the club is overly concerned with the results of the last three games now. Villa could take advantage of that and they have the players do so.

The away win seems to be the most likely outcome here.