LONDON: Aston Villa raised hopes to return to Premier League with a vital 2-0 victory against Crystal Palace on Sunday.
Trezeguet bagged a brace to fire Aston Villa to a crucial victory with the Egypt international made the all-important breakthrough deep into first-half injury time when he arrived at the back post to convert a whipped free-kick from the impressive Conor Hourihane.
And he doubled his tally in the 59th minute, poking through the legs of Vicente Guaita, to seal three big points in Villa’s bid to climb the Premier League table and away from danger.
Trezeguet’s double, taking his tally to six goals in all competitions this season, secured a first victory since the resumption of Premier League football under Project Restart.
Villa’s first win in 11 league games lifted them into 18th place, within four points of fourth-from-bottom Watford with three games left.
Second-bottom Bournemouth will go one point above Villa if they beat Leicester later on Sunday.
Villa face Everton, Arsenal and West Ham in their last three matches as they battle to avoid an immediate return to the Championship.
Jack Grealish said Aston Villa weren’t willing to settle for anything less than three points against Crystal Palace.
“Everyone knows how big this game was for us and we went out there and I thought we were brilliant today.
“We knew we weren’t at it [against Manchester United] and we knew how tough that game was going to be.
“We analysed it and we knew how big this one was today. We couldn’t have taken anything less than three points.”
Smith’s men got an early stroke of luck when Palace defender Mamadou Sakho had a goal ruled out by VAR.
Sakho got on the end of Luka Milivojevic’s free-kick but a check revealed the ball had gone into the net off the arm of the Palace defender.
Villa snatched the lead four minutes into first-half stoppage time.
Conor Hourihane’s free-kick from the left evaded everyone and Trezeguet came in at the back post to side-foot beyond Vicente Guaita.
It was Palace’s turn to be saved by VAR early in the second half.
Referee Martin Atkinson pointed to the spot after Jack Grealish appeared to be fouled by Patrick Van Aanholt, but a further check overturned the decision.
Villa got their crucial second goal in the 58th minute.
Hourihane nodded the ball forward after John McGinn’s cross was only half cleared and Trezeguet was on hand to slot home.
Palace striker Christian Benteke was sent off for violent conduct after the final whistle. (Source: Aston Villa)
