Crystal Palace to benefit from huge Unai Emery misery as Aston Villa lose £50m star for Premier League clash

Aston Villa have suffered a huge blow ahead of their game against Crystal Palace, with £50 million summer signing Amadou Onana now a doubt for the match. The former Everton man is among Aston Villa's international contingent who have returned to Bodymoor Heath early.

Onana has been a key member of the Villa team and even scored their opening goal of the season against West Ham. He has since bagged three more goals for them in 14 league appearances this season.

His absence will be a massive blow to Unai Emery, who has seen his team go four games without a win in all competitions , ironically, the run started with a League Cup defeat to the Eagles back in October.

The midfielder has earned 20 caps for Belgium, including 11 this year, which is a testament to his growth and development over the past 12 months. Posting on their official X account, Belgium confirmed Onana is one of five players who won’t feature in their final Nations League game against Israel on Sunday. They said: “Onana, Lukaku, De Cuyper, Lavia, and Theate are not fit for the game against Israel and have left the squad.”

Crystal Palace

Crystal Palace lost their game against Fulham before the international break. They will hope to recover Eberechi Eze, Chadi Riad, and Jefferson Lemar, to give the manager more options for what should be a really interesting game.

There is pressure on Oliver Glasner to get things right, having seen all the good work he did last season now threatened by a challenging start to the current campaign, with relegation now a real concern.