Highlights and analysis from Saturday's seven Premier League fixtures.
If you missed Match of the Day, you can catch up now on BBC iPlayer.
Listen back to full match commentaries on BBC Sounds:
Image source, Getty ImagesAston Villa boss Unai Emery speaking to Sky Sports: "We deserved more but we made some mistakes that we need to correct. We had chances to score, we came back. The penalty was a key moment.
"In the second half we pushed and felt close to scoring, but we have to accept one point."
On Villa's vulnerability to transitions: "We are working on it. The players are concerned as well.
Alex Brotherton
BBC Sport journalist
Image source, Getty ImagesOllie Watkins ended his five-game goal drought.
For all the talk of him potentially replacing Harry Kane as England's first-choice striker, Ollie Watkins has not had a great time of it recently.
That ended today though, as the 28-year-old scored Aston Villa's first equaliser of the afternoon in their 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace, making sure his goalless run didn't exceed five games.
Watkins showed great composure to round Palace goalkeeper Dean Henderson after perfectly timing his run onto John McGinn's pass.
He's now scored six goals in 12 league games this term, the same return he had at this time last season before going on to score a career-best 19.
Goal aside, Watkins worked extremely hard off the ball to keep Palace under pressure, and perhaps could have scored a second.
Unai Emery still has issues to solve at Villa Park, but Watkins isn't one of them.
Read the report of Villa's draw with Palace here.
Image source, Getty ImagesAston Villa are winless in their last six games across all competitions (D2 L4), equalling their longest run without a victory under Unai Emery (also six in April-May 2024).
The Villans have also drawn three consecutive Premier League home games for the first time since December 2014-January 2015 (3).
Were you at the game or following from elsewhere?
Have your say on Aston Villa's performance, external
What did you make of Crystal Palace's display?, external
Come back to this page on Monday to find a selection of your replies
Seven matches make up Saturday's Premier League action, and we will bring you every moment.
Leicester v Chelsea - 12:30
Bournemouth v Brighton
Aston Villa v Crystal Palace
Everton v Brentford
Fulham v Wolves
Kick-offs 15:00 GMT unless stated
Chris Sutton is making predictions for all 380 Premier League games this season, against a variety of guests.
For week 12 he takes on The Farm singer and Liverpool fan Peter Hooton.
The Farm's new single, Forever & Ever, is out now and their new album, Let The Music (Take Control), is released in May 2025.
Sutton's prediction: 2-1
Aston Villa have lost four in a row but Crystal Palace have even more cause for concern.
Logic tells me that Villa will come good, because Unai Emery is a superb organiser of teams and we have already seen long spells of them at their best.
Palace, however, need a drastic improvement on their performances this season because they have been pretty flat so far.
Villa need to click again, but they are at home which will help. Palace's form is getting pretty desperate under Oliver Glasner, and I don't see that changing this week.
Hooton’s prediction: 3-1
Villa will be too strong.
Image source, Getty ImagesAston Villa boss Unai Emery expressed his deep respect for Crystal Palace and their manager Oliver Glasner in his news conference on Friday.
The Villans host the Eagles in the Premier League on Saturday (15:00 GMT).
Asked about Palace's form, with Glasner's team 18th in the table after 11 games, Emery said: "Crystal Palace have all my respect.
"We can analyse them playing against us three weeks ago, when they beat us here, and last season they were fantastic in the last four months of the season.
"They are playing in the same idea and style, but they've had some injuries and [Michael] Olise is no longer in the squad. They are playing the same as last year when they were successful. They deserve more points than they have now."
Villa come into Saturday's match on the back of a run of three consecutive defeats - something Emery is keen rectify this weekend.
“They won against us three weeks ago and my respect for them is a lot," he added.
"I am positive because we are working to correct small details.
"Respect is analysing them and trying to tactically respond to everything they are going to demand from us."
Joe Nelson
BBC Sport journalist
Aston Villa boss Unai Emery has been speaking to the media before Saturday's Premier League game against Crystal Palace at Villa Park (kick-off 15:00 GMT).
Here are the key lines from his news conference:
Ezri Konsa, Amadou Onana, Boubakar Kamara and Jacob Ramsey are ruled out for Saturday's match: "Overall, when I’m looking around [at] other teams, they have injured players as well, even maybe Crystal Palace. We are in the same routine. We are playing with some players, more or less, after they are injured. Some players are doubtful and some are out."
Matty Cash and Ross Barkley are back in contention for Villa: "We are adding other players after small injuries, like Cash and Barkley, into the squad for tomorrow. We are going to try and feel confident with the players we have in the squad, and are working with every player to be ready when the opportunity to play comes."
The Villa boss believes the Premier League is more competitive than ever: "Every match is very difficult. We analyse the table and there are a lot of teams within a few points. How we finish the match tomorrow can maybe change a lot of things in the position that we are in now."
After five games without a win all competitions, Emery is keen for his team to bounce back: "We're playing at Villa Park with our supporters. We’re motivated and I’m looking forward to watching our response."
The Spaniard remains calm about Villa's prospects for this season: "We have 38 matches in the Premier League. Sometimes we can have good results, sometimes not, but we have to accept it. This is the reason we try to keep calm, try to rest the players after their matches with the national team. We are focusing on the match because it’s a very, very important three points."
Despite recent form, Emery is convinced that everything his team is doing will stand them in good stead: "We will try to dominate and impose our game plan with our tactical idea and the duels against the players they have. The Premier League is very difficult and we can remind ourselves of the matches we played last year against teams more or less in the bottom of the table, like when we drew against Sheffield [United] in the last minute and came back against Burnley in the last minute. We know how to feel comfortable and strong, playing with our idea and imposing and dominating the match."
Follow all of Friday's Premier League news conferences and the rest of the day's football news
After a run of four consecutive defeats in all competitions before the international break, football tactics writer Alex Keble looks at the potential causes for Aston Villa's blip in form and any tactical tweaks that boss Unai Emery could make.
Villa are not playing with the same sense of control since Douglas Luiz was sold to Juventus in the summer.
The stats bear this out.
Comparing this season to last, Villa's average possession in the Premier League over the first quarter of the season has dropped from 52.8% to 50.5%, while their passes completed and progressive passes have also declined.
The knock-on effect is twofold.
Villa are playing slightly deeper and less assertively, such as in draws with Manchester United and Bournemouth. They have also taken part in games that are less compressed, creating space between the lines, hence the wildness of the Tottenham defeat or the 2-2 draw with Ipswich.
Luiz and Boubacar Kamara, the partnership that led Villa to 46 points from the first 23 league games of last season, has been replaced with Amadou Onana and Youri Tielemans.
Both have played well, but the style shift is affecting Villa’s ability to control games.
Onana is less involved than Kamara, averaging 40 passes per 90 minutes this season compared with Kamara’s 55.6 per 90 last season, although swapping Luiz for Tielemans has proved the bigger issue.
Tielemans and Luiz may attempt a similar number of passes but Tielemans’ are more vertical and direct, explaining why Villa’s possession share has dropped.
For a clearer example of this difference - of how Tielemans’ style stretches Villa more, making them vulnerable to disjointed passing or end-to-end games – take a look at a typical pass map for both players below:
Image source, Opta
Image source, OptaLuckily for Villa, Kamara is now back from injury. That can help their control of midfield - and of central defence.
Image source, Getty ImagesWe asked for your views on things that are not being talked about at Aston Villa but should be.
Here are some of your comments:
Matt: Our squad depth, or lack of it, is flying under the radar. The players who have returned from anterior cruciate ligament injuries don't look like they’re fully ready to be playing the football they’re being asked to. Our work rate and intensity has dropped off a cliff.
Rod: It was inevitably going to be difficult to match the consistency of last season, but only having one clean sheet in the Premier League this season, and that in a game which we didn’t win, underlines a major weakness that Unai Emery is aware of. I believe he will rectify it in January.
Charlie: No one is really talking about the lack of quality in attack in these past few games. I highly respect Emery and the options Villa have, but it doesn't seem to be working for some reason. That got me thinking: What happened to these players? If they are fatigued, then play Emi Buendia or Ross Barkley more often than playing Leon Bailey or Jacob Ramsey.
Phil: How we have slowed down and started playing tippy-tappy, back-to-the-goalie football. Our advantage was our speed of play and breaks that caught teams out.
Jodi: Kosta Nedelkovic is a fantastic player and so ambitious for a full-back. He will take Matty Cash's position.
NW: I have no place questioning Emery, but his decisions in the past few games have been interesting. Starting Mings in a Champions League game and playing John McGinn on the wing. Some spark has been lost and teams seem to have realised that dissolving our midfield with an intense press is the key to victory.
Aston Villa are without a win in five matches, but Unai Emery's side are still well placed in the Premier League and in Europe.
They will be hoping to bounce back against Crystal Palace at the weekend before a big Champions League night against Juventus at Villa Park on Tuesday.
But what is the one thing - good or bad - that isn't being talked about in relation to Villa right now?
Mike Taylor
BBC Radio WM reporter
Image source, Getty Images"Aye, it is mad," said John McGinn, and it was, in a way.
He had just left the field after helping Scotland win in Poland – perhaps not quite "one of the greatest days in the history of Scottish football" as a local reporter suggested, but a good day all the same.
"My dad sent a nice text to say it's surreal seeing his boy in the top-five all-time scorers for Scotland, which is a bit mad," said McGinn. "I'm sure I'll wind Ally McCoist up the next time he's commentating on a Villa game!"
He should, too. McGinn's goal, a few days after one that beat Croatia, was his 20th for Scotland – one more than McCoist. At better than one every four caps, McGinn's strike rate for his country is not far off that achieved by the legendary Rangers striker. "Super became more super than super," as Matthew Lindsay of the Herald, external put it.
Whether international performances relate much to a player's prospects when they return to domestic football is debatable, but it will be very much to Villa's benefit if McGinn walks back into Bodymoor Heath wearing the grin he sported in Warsaw.
Villa's fortunes over the past few seasons can largely be tracked against the progress of their captain. McGinn in form has usually meant Villa look good. Lately - though one point off third place is hardly doing badly - Villa have lost a little altitude, while McGinn's season to date has been patchy, either side of injury.
Unai Emery is among many who have often spoken admiringly of McGinn's dedication and leadership skills. Much of the praise he attracts is in this vein - a jovial, positive competitor, taking his football seriously but not himself.
All the 'what a great guy' praise is entirely true and well-intended, but sometimes overshadows just what a skilled footballer he is. Technically proficient, a clever picker of a pass with a dangerous striking ability from outside the area. In form, McGinn proves that he is still often underestimated, not unlike his team last season.
"We've been through a right rough spell," said McGinn. "Personally, a long goal drought for club and country, but I've managed to get two in two, back on scoring form and back to winning ways for us [Scotland]."
International breaks often seem to disrupt the rhythm of clubs, but if this one has helped McGinn rediscover his groove, Villa will have good reason to be thankful for it.
Tune into The West Midlands Football Phone-In from 18:00 on weeknights
Image source, Getty ImagesAfter 1,026 games as a manager, Aston Villa boss Unai Emery has lost four consecutive games for the first time, a run that started with a Carabao Cup defeat by Crystal Palace last month.
The Spaniard could also lose his first three meetings with Oliver Glasner, something he last did against one counterpart in March 2018 (Zinedine Zidane).
Meanwhile, Palace striker Jean-Philippe Mateta has scored more Premier League goals (four) against Villa than any other team, and recorded his joint-most assists (two). The Frenchman was directly involved in four of the Eagles' goals - including scoring a hat-trick - in their 5-0 win over Emery's side on the final day of last season.
Aston Villa's priority in the January transfer window will be a new centre-back, with 31-year-old Real Betis defender Diego Llorente on their shortlist. (Football Insider), external
Want more transfer news? Read Wednesday's full gossip column
