Remi Garde's search for a first victory as Aston Villa boss will continue on Tuesday night as they welcome high-flying Crystal Palace to Villa Park.
The hosts are rooted to the bottom of the Premier League table and their survival chances already look bleak heading into the clash with a Palace side who could go fifth with a win.
Aston Villa
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Things just continue to go from bad to worse for Aston Villa, and it would take a minor miracle for them to salvage their status as a Premier League ever-present this season.
Their club-record winless streak in the league now stretches to 19 games having picked up a meagre five points from the 57 on offer since their opening-day victory over Bournemouth.
Garde cannot take sole responsibility for the entire season, but his time in charge has not seen much of an improvement. He has amassed only four points from nine games in the Villa dugout, and defeat on Tuesday would see him match Tim Sherwood's haul from his last 10 outings as Villa boss.
Low points have been aplenty this season, but this has been a particularly damaging week for the club. They opened 2016 with a must-win basement battle against Sunderland, only to succumb to a 3-1 defeat at the Stadium of Light to leave themselves 11 points from safety.
The FA Cup third round should have brought some relief from the stresses of top-flight football, but Villa plunged to new depths when they were held by League Two side Wycombe Wanderers on Saturday.
Club captain Micah Richards, who scored Villa's goal at Adams Park, fronted up to the fans after the match and insisted that they must stick with the team, but the anger and frustration vented by those supporters suggested that their patience has run out.
While the FA Cup only served to pour more misery on their season, the priority remains staying in the league, although it would take the greatest of escapes for that to happen. Villa have just one more point at this stage of the season than Derby County had when they posted a record-low tally of 11 points in the 2007-08 season.
The Rams gave up on the hope of survival around this time of the year too, and realistically Villa's main target may simply be to avoid the ignominy of joining Derby in the history books.
Garde, publicly at least, has not admitted defeat just yet, but hope will not be high ahead of Tuesday's match considering that Villa are the only side not to have won a single Premier League home game this season.
Indeed, they have only picked up three points in front of their own fans - seven fewer than the next worst home record - while their tally of six goals scored is also a league-low. The one glimmer of hope could be that the only two points they have claimed off top-half teams this season have come at Villa Park, but the hosts will be heavy underdogs for this midweek clash.
Recent form: DLDDLL
Recent form (all competitions): LDDLLD
Crystal Palace
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Presented with an Aston Villa side on the verge of crisis, Palace fans may cast their minds back to the not-too-distant past when they also had to scrap for their Premier League status. Just last season they were in the relegation zone after 20 games of the campaign.
Such thoughts could not be further from their minds at the moment, however, with the Eagles eyeing a European challenge this season and able to climb up into fifth with a win should other results also go their way.
Only five points currently separate Alan Pardew's side from the top four, but it has not all be plain sailing in recent weeks for the club.
They boast an impressive defensive record, even after a 3-0 defeat to Chelsea in their last league game, but it is at the other end of the field that they have struggled of late. With a number of key attacking players sidelined, Palace have failed to score in their last three league games, and another blank on Tuesday would make it four in a row in the top flight for the first time since February 1998.
It would not be an exaggeration to suggest that Palace are just a prolific centre-forward away from being genuine top-four challengers, with only one of their 23 league goals this season coming from a recognised striker, and none from open play.
Only time will tell if Pardew looks to address that problem in the January transfer window, but the likes of Simone Zaza and Emmanuel Adebayor have been linked to the club, while the latest reports suggest that they could smash their record transfer fee to bring in Islam Slimani from Sporting Lisbon.
Palace did at least get themselves back on the scoresheet in the FA Cup on Saturday, booking their place in the fourth round with a 2-1 victory over Southampton at St Mary's.
It was yet another notable away result for the Eagles, who are now unbeaten in five games on the road and have won an impressive 14 of their 21 away games under Pardew in all competitions.
Only Leicester City average more points per game than Palace on their travels this season, and despite only keeping two away clean sheets in the league so far, they also boast the best defensive record on the road having conceded just seven goals. They have not let in more than one goal in a Premier League away game since last January.
Recent form: DWWDDL
Recent form (all competitions): WWDDLW
Team News
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Fresh from his exchange with the Villa fans, Micah Richards is a slight doubt for the hosts due to a foot injury, although he is expected to be fit to start.
Jack Grealish (tonsillitis) and Gabriel Agbonlahor (back) face late fitness tests, but the game will come too soon for hamstring victims Carlos Sanchez and Alan Hutton.
Adama Traore is not expected to feature again until March having fractured his metatarsal, while Jordan Amavi remains out for the rest of the season with ligament damage.
Palace should have Yohan Cabaye available despite their top scorer picking up a knock against Southampton, and Connor Wickham is also expected to be fit following a calf strain.
Dwight Gayle and Yannick Bolasie will not be ready to return until later this month, however, while Kwesi Appiah is a longer-term absentee.
Aston Villa possible starting lineup:
Guzan; Richards, Okore, Lescott, Cissokho; Bacuna, Gueye, Veretout, Gil, Grealish; Gestede
Crystal Palace possible starting lineup:
Hennessey; Ward, Dann, Delaney, Souare; McArthur, Jedinak, Puncheon, Cabaye, Zaha; Sako
Head To Head
Crystal Palace have won four of the last six league meetings between these two sides, while Villa have not beaten the Eagles in a home league game since March 1998 when Savo Milosevic's brace helped them to a 3-1 victory.
Bakary Sako got a late winner for Palace when the two sides met at Selhurst Park in August after Pape Souare's own goal had cancelled out a Scott Dann opener.
The corresponding fixture last term ended goalless on New Year's Day in what was Palace's final match before Pardew took over.
We say: Aston Villa 0-2 Crystal Palace
It is hard to see Villa picking up a win from anywhere at the moment, and particularly when you compare their sorry home form to Palace's impressive record on the road this season. Everything points to a Palace victory, and we see it being relatively comfortable for the Eagles as they hammer another nail into Villa's coffin.
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