Too good to rest, too tough to beat, too hot to stop. If this is the end of Marc Guehi’s relationship with Crystal Palace, then presumably Aston Villa must nurture a wish that all partings could be performed to such magnificent effect.
We will come to that latter situation with Emiliano Martinez in a moment. But first to Guehi, who, too, might well have a new employer come Monday night, but on Sunday demonstrated why he will be remembered so fondly if Liverpool do pull off his signing.
That deal is not a foregone conclusion, but the qualities of this defender cannot be understated, as shown in a performance where he resisted waves of Villa attacks and then kicked them square in the spuds with a superb goal for 2-0. It was a beauty. A top corner-finish from a top drawer player.
If Liverpool are able to capitalise on Palace’s worries about an expiring contract, then any fee in the ballpark of £35million will rank as an outstanding piece of business.
Naturally, that is predicated on Oliver Glasner not getting his way – he is determined to keep the centre-half and Guehi’s inclusion here might yet prove evidence of the manager receiving his wish.
The truths of that saga will surely unfold themselves in the coming hours. As for Villa and Martinez, that appears more straightforward.
Marc Guehi scored a brilliant goal as Crystal Palace beat Aston Villa 3-0 at Villa Park
Guehi found the top corner with a lovely strike on what may have been his last game for Palace
The defender
Such is Manchester United’s urgency around a new goalkeeper, the dots were joined by most at Villa Park when the team sheets came in and Martinez was nowhere to be seen. Cue a strange pre-match interview with Emery.
What was the reason for Martinez’s absence, he was asked: ‘Marco Bizot.’ Where is Martinez? ‘Marco Bizot.’ Will he be your future goalkeeper? ‘Marco Bizot.’
To the question of who would give away a first-half penalty against the run of play, the same answer would have sufficed. For Villa to lose the Argentine will be the kind of blow from which it is hard to recover. A loony, yes, but gifted all the same.
In his absence, Villa were chewed up and spat out, but only after hinting once again that this season will not follow the same exciting pattern as the last. Their goalkeeping scenario aside, the attack is their issue. They are not scoring and even on nights such as this, when they created far more than achieved against Newcastle and Brentford combined, the cost is high.
Either side of Guehi’s wonderful strike was Jean-Philippe Mateta’s penalty and a bundled finish from Ismaila Sarr. The rest of the night? Palace had only a single shot on goal, which is a fairly neat summary of this one went. Not that it matters – they have their first league win of the campaign and Villa do not. Only more questions.
Emery’s efforts to answer them here meant a full five changes to the side beaten at Brentford. The omission of Martinez was the most conspicuous, with Lucas Digne, Pau Torres and the injured pair of Boubacar Kamara and Amadou Onana also left out.
Of those coming in, Ezri Konsa was an upgrade at the back and the trio of Ian Maatsen, Donyell Malen and Evann Guessand were geared towards greater pace and width. Having achieved the grand total of five shots on goal in their previous two games, the need for broader thinking had merit.
Or at least the theory did.
In the case of Guessand, who was making his full debut, there was speed and plenty of intent to attack Daniel Munoz and Maxence Lacroix up that left wing, but too often they swallowed him whole. He was hooked at the break.
Maatsen had a better story to share – his best work came from set-piece deliveries and he twice found Youri Tielemans, only for free headers to miss the target. It rather underlined the point that creating a chance is one thing, burying it quite another.
Both have aspects been elusive for Villa in these early stages of the season, but finishing was the prime issue here, shown again when Ollie Watkins was set loose at 1-0 down by John McGinn and prodded straight at Dean Henderson.
Emery’s exasperation was obvious by then, and it is no doubt linked to the interest in Lucas Paqueta. If his badge-kissing for West Ham on Sunday was not too discouraging, there might yet be another move for the Brazilian. Failing that, a move to bring back Marco Asensio is a possibility.
Without those reinforcements, sucker punches will never be far away. In this fixture, that was demonstrated by the penalty, awarded after Mateta slipped a line-breaking ball into Daichi Kamada’s path. When the forward side-stepped Bizot, it drew the lunge and a whistle. Mateta sent Bizot the wrong way from the spot.
From there, Palace struggled to maintain control, with the notable exception of Adam Wharton. With Eberechi Eze gone and Guehi the subject of a pursuit, Wharton will presumably draw intense interest in the near future – his reading of a game is exceptional.
That he was injured early in the second half was a shame, though his removal appeared precautionary. What it meant in the nuts and bolts of the match was greater domination by Villa, who in succession saw good chances left unconverted by Tielemans and Emiliano Buendia, who had been brought on at half-time. There was also a penalty appeal by Morgan Rogers that carried a whiff of desperation.
Naturally, it was all a precursor to another hit in the guts. Guehi’s goal was sublime, a strike that dipped and curled from the edge of the area, and the killer blow, via a long throw, and Sarr’s unmarked header on the line, was far less pretty.
