Aston Villa wanted to turn the bitter memories of Selhurst Park into golden ones by powering back to the top of premier league. Villa was stung by the recollection of their painful penalty shoot-out exit from the FA Cup against Wimbledon just a week earlier. That year both the South London clubs, Crystal Palace and Wimbledon were using Selhurst Park as their home ground.
A win against Palace would put Villa two points clear of Manchester United with Norwich going up against Southampton.
