Crystal Palace v Aston Villa: Premier League – live!

1 min It’s raining at Selhurst, but that might speed up the play because it’s not too heavy and the surface is in good nick.

The players, Wilfried Zaha aside, take a knee. Black lives matter.

I do like Dean Smith’s eyebrows.

Sky have just showed this; after the few morons booing the taking of the knee at Wembley yesterday, it’s worth watching and/or rewatching.

What Grealish gives a team, if he starts from the flank, is the ability to play an extra attacking midfielder because he’s an extra body able to keep the ball. I don’t think Southgate is remotely interested in playing dominant football though – he’ll want to protect his defence and expect to win with moments and counters.

Jamie Redknapp reckons if Grealish plays a bit today then starts Villa’s last two games, he’ll get into the England squad – though he doesn’t think Southgate is a huge fan. Now the squads are bigger I’d be surprised if he missed out, but I’d be surprised if played all that much.

Dean Smith notes that his team have done less well in the second half of the season, and says it’s hard without your best player for a third of it. Overall, though, he’s really happy with how things have gone, and hopes Watkins can take out his frustration at missing the last game with suspension on Palace. Back to Grealish, Smith is bringing him back slowly, and says he puts teams on the back foot because he makes defenders nervous.

Trying to get in his way will be John McGinn, who captains Villa today. I know Grealish bossed the Championship, but when I watched Villa at that level I was actually more impressed with McGinn, whose all-round competence was a throwback to a time when midfield players didn’t come with qualifiers. I’m sure he’ll go to the Euros – I hope he forces his way into Scotland’s starting XI.

Back to Eze, Sky reckon he’ll be in central-midfield, and in a 4-4-2 too. If he seriously has the chops for that role, he could be very special – it’s not often you see someone able to beat men like he can playing in the middle of the pitch.

A windswept Roy Hodgson tells Sky he doesn’t think today’s game is a huge deal for the various players he has nearing the end of their contracts, on the basis that he’s had most of them for four years. Fair enough.

I don’t know, maybe Stones is better than Mings, he probably is, but I’m not mad about either and think Maguire needs some recovery pace next to him.

It really is absolutely mind-boggling how many brilliant young players England have. I don’t think it’ll quite happen in the way it could, but I really hope Gareth Southgate lets them go in the summer – and I say that not as an England fan, which I’m not, but because I’d love to see them play and think they could do some serious damage. Now that you don’t ask, my starting XI would be: Pickford; Walker, Maguire, Mings, Shaw; Rice, Bellingham, Mount; Foden, Kane, Rashford.

I’m really looking forward to watching Eberechi Eze, who has that rare, beautiful mix of elegance and invention. I saw him a few times for QPR and was a little surprised no one richer than Palace got involved; it’ll take a lot more than £19.5m to get hold of him now.

As for Villa, Tyrone Mings is injured and replaced by Kourtney Hause, while Matt Cash is also unavailable. Following their midweek draw with Everton, Barkley and Davis drop out, with Ramsey and the now unsuspended Watkins taking their place.

Palace make five changes to the team that lost at Southampton in midweek. In net, Jack Butland – remember him? – makes his first Premier League appearance for the club, replacing Vicente Guaita, while Cahill, McCarthy, Schlupp and Townsend also come in, for Dann, Riedewald, Milivojevic and Ayew respectively.

Crystal Palace (a literate, multi-lingual 4-4-2): Butland; Ward, Kouyate, Cahill, Mitchell; Townsend, McCarthy, Schlupp, Eze; Benteke, Zaha. Subs: Hennessey, Guaita, Batshuayi, Kelly, Mateta, Ayew, Riedewald, Dann, Tomkins.

Aston Villa (a flexible 4-2-3-1): Martinez; Elmohamady, Konsa, Hause, Target; Luiz, McGinn; Traoré, Ramsey, El Ghazi; Watkins. Subs: Steer, Taylor, Barkley, Grealish, Davis, Chukwuemeka, Wesley, Engles, Nakamba.

My friend and yours: David Coote (Nottinghamshire)

In September 2017, Crystal Palace fired Frank de Boer after starting the season with four straight defeats and no goals. At the time, it seemed perhaps a little hasty – all the more so when they appointed Roy Hodgson, just turned 70 and fresh from soul-crushing failure with Liverpool then England, to widespread derision and mirth. He duly lost his first three games … then led his team to an 11th-place finish, the first time a team starting with seven straight defeats has stayed up, and Palace have been largely free of relegation fears ever since. It’s been an absolutely brilliant effort.

Now, though, there are rumours that Hodgson might finally take a blow which, if true, would make this the penultimate home match of a career that has seen him manage 1210 games. Of course, he might hang on for more – he’s an addict just like the rest of us – but even so, it does no harm to take a moment and roll around our minds what it must take to be renewing yourself while inspiring others at the age of 73. You’d take it.

Villa, meanwhile, have a manager closer to the start of his career, and though Dean Smith has been helped by significant investment, he’s shaped a likeable and entertaining team that look set to become a Premier League staple. They’ve faded a little over the last few months and particularly since losing Jack Grealish to injury, but over the course of the season have destroyed Liverpool and given plenty to excellent games against both Manchester clubs. They’re still fighting to secure a top-half finish, and though Grealish – along with the extremely exciting Carney Chukwuemeka – is on the bench, they’ll not be turning up at Selhurst to sit back. This could be an extremely enjoyable tussle.

Kick-off: 12pm BST