A Sarr Is Born

Crystal Palace upset the form book; doing a scintillating 3-0 win over favorites Aston Villa; who had gone on a hitherto unbelievable 11 win out of 14 sequence; to reach the FA Cup final. Newly-minted England international Eberechi Eze; the man of the moment; did it again; scoring with a trademark opportunistic strike to draw first blood after a somewhat-tense opening period. Things got better for Palace as even with a missed Jean-Phillipe Mateta penalty; they went 2-0 up after another Ismaila Sarr unerring strike. The match was sealed deep in stoppage time; as Sarr again ran through a flagging Villa backline to prod home his second.

For a match of this importance; Villa simply did not show up. I thought Unai Emery made a mistake in starting the seldom-used Pau Torres instead of Tyrone Mings; and his rustiness became clear as the match went by. Another questionable decision is using captain John McGinn on the left wing instead of the in-form Jacob Ramsey; as McGinn is more of a central operator than a wide man. For all his quality; Marco Asensio was an invisible man; unable to influence or change the course of the match; and the same could be said of Morgan Rogers.

For Palace; they continue to be the rising force of English football; and Oliver Glasner's influence holds no bounds. Their 3-4-3 formation suits them to a tee; and I feel the foundation of their success lies in their 3-man defence of Maxence Lacroix; with US international Chris Richards and England man Marc Guehi. Such is their strength in depth that even after their central midfielders Adam Wharton and Daichi Kamada were shifted; their reserve partnership of Will Hughes and Jefferson Lerma is still teeming with quality. While upfront; the hold-up play of Mateta; paired with the speed of Eze and Sarr are just perfect for their counter-attacking qualities.