Aston Villa lost to Liverpool before the international break and face an entertaining Crystal Palace side on Saturday.
The Eagles beat Wolves before the hiatus and their last two games in all competitions have produced a combined 11 goals.
Roy Hodgson’s side will head to the Midlands with confidence, but the Villans have an exemplary record on their own patch and have the chance to make it nine home league wins in
Aston Villa have a doubt over central-half Diego Carlos, who limped off early in the defeat to Liverpool with a hamstring injury.
Fellow defender Alex Moreno has returned to training after recovering from his own hamstring issue, but this game could come too early.
Jacob Ramsey is in a similar situation with a metatarsal problem, while Emi Buendia and Tyrone Mings are long-term absentees due to knee injuries.
Palace central defender Marc Guehi was withdrawn at half-time of England’s win over Scotland on Tuesday and was reported by Gareth Southgate to be “feeling something” and could be replaced by either Chris Richards or James Tomkins.
Summer signing Matheus Franca is still to make his debut, with Hodgson previously coy on when he could feature, while Michael Olise may also sit out with the hamstring issue he picked up over the summer.
The Villans beat Everton 4-0 in their only home league game this season to make it eight straight league victories at Villa Park, while they also outclassed Hibernian 3-0 on their own patch in the Europa Conference League.
That run includes March’s 1-0 win over the Eagles, who are unbeaten on the road in the league in 2023-24, winning 1-0 at Sheffield United and drawing 1-1 at Brentford.
Having also beaten Wolves 3-2, they are a point ahead of Villa in the standings and have a mixed record at Villa Park, where they have not won since 2013.
A player to look for could be Ollie Watkins, who has scored in two of the last three meetings. He is yet to net in the league this season, although he grabbed a hat-trick away at Hibernian in the Conference League.
For the Eagles, Odsonne Edouard scored twice against Wolves to take his league tally for the season to three.
Aston Villa’s home form under Emery has been extremely impressive and the boss will expect a win before turning his attention to the Conference League trip to Legia Warsaw next Thursday.
The Basque’s pedigree means his side have a real chance of winning that competition, but there is also an ambition at Villa Park to push on in the Premier League and at least emulate last term’s seventh-place finish
However, Palace have continued to display the freedom they initially demonstrated after Hodgson returned in March and have only been kept scoreless once in all competitions in 2023-24.
That was a 1-0 defeat to Arsenal, their sole fixture this term that has not seen both teams score and that run could be extended on Saturday.
