Ismaila Sarr had two goals and an assist as Crystal Palace upset Aston Villa 3-0 at Wembley Stadium on Saturday to clinch a place in their third FA Cup Final.
Eberechi Eze scored the other goal for Oliver Glasner’s Eagles, who will meet either Nottingham Forest or Manchester City in the final on May 17.
MORE - FA Cup hub — Scores & schedule
Villa are fighting for a return to the UEFA Champions League and were favored to beat Palace, out-attempting the victors 16-8 and keeping more than 70% of the ball.
Neither side has won a top-level trophy in a combined 148 years, and at least Villa’s wait will continue into the 2025-26 season.
USMNT back Chris Richards went 90 minutes in the win, while fellow American veteran Matt Turner was on the bench. Next month, they could become the first Americans to win the FA Cup.
More to come...
How to watch Crystal Palace vs Aston Villa live, stream link and start time
Kick off time: 12:15 pm ET Saturday
Venue: Wembley Stadium — London
Streaming: ESPN+
Crystal Palace vs Aston Villa final score: 3-0
Eberechi Eze 31', Ismaila Sarr 58', 90+4'
Crystal Palace vs Aston Villa live updates — By Nick Mendola
Ismaila Sarr goal (video) — Crystal Palace 3-0 Aston Villa (90+4')
Eddie Nketiah gets Sarr through on goal, and it’s a fine finish past Martinez.
The all-world goalkeeper just hasn’t been able to produce many heroics today, making one diving save on a combined 1.03 expected goals on target.
PALACE HAVE ANOTHER. SARR HAS ANOTHER. 🤯@CPFC are heading to the 2024-25 #EmiratesFACup Final 🦅🏆 pic.twitter.com/OAvdDZVYtz
— Emirates FA Cup (@EmiratesFACup) April 26, 2025
Ismaila Sarr goal (video) — Crystal Palace 2-0 Aston Villa (58th minute)
Wow.
Wharton, who has been very good, turns over Youri Tielemans’ bid to collect a poor pass.
Mateta then cues up Ismaila Sarr for a splendid finish and Palace have a deserved multi-goal lead.
ISMAILA SARR 💥@CPFC ARE RUNNING RIOT 🦅#EmiratesFACup pic.twitter.com/Pb2Qpp9UYH
— Emirates FA Cup (@EmiratesFACup) April 26, 2025
Jean-Philippe Mateta penalty MISS
Emiliano Martinez is trying to put off the mustachioed Frenchman, and perhaps it works!
Mateta clips his pen off the outside of the right post!
Crystal Palace penalty!
Eze goes down in the box and Anthony Taylor points to the spot.
He’s on the other side of Boubacar Kamara as he awaits Adam Wharton’s pass into the box.
Eze makes the most of the contact, but will VAR see that contact as enough interference to keep Palace at the spot?
Eberechi Eze goal (video) — Crystal Palace 1-0 Aston Villa (31st minute)
This is a very good goal.
Ismaila Sarr makes the most of a Pau Torres mistake, and sets up Eberechi Eze.
The Englishman rips home centrally from outside the 18.
A deserved lead.
EBERE EZE. THAT IS INCREDIBLE.
— Emirates FA Cup (@EmiratesFACup) April 26, 2025
An unbelievable goal from the @CPFC and @England magician 🤯#EmiratesFACup pic.twitter.com/SD364TWvBF
Mateta goal whistled for foul
This a tough break for Palace.
Jean-Philippe Mateta races onto a long ball and gets the better of Ezri Konsa.
He slides the ball around Emiliano Martinez 1v1, but the whistle goes and it’s a free kick for Villa going the other way.
Replays show Konsa appared to simply lose a 50:50 to a large human.
That was the moment of an otherwise quiet opening half-hour.
Crystal Palace lineup
Henderson, Munoz, Richards, Lacroix, Guehi, Mitchell, Wharton, Kamada, Sarr, Eze, Mateta
Aston Villa lineup
Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Torres, Digne, McGinn, Kamara, Tielemans, Asensio, Rogers, Watkins
Crystal Palace vs Aston Villa, FA Cup preview — By Andy Edwards
FA Cup semifinal weekend is upon us, and Aston Villa and Crystal Palace, the sides set to face off in semifinal no. 1 at Wembley Stadium on Saturday (12:15 pm ET), haven’t won a trophy in a combined 148 years.
That is due, in large part, to the fact that Crystal Palace have never won a top-flight league or major cup trophy in their 119-year history. Aston Villa haven’t won one in almost three decades themselves (1996 League Cup), but that’s a drop in the bucket when you start throwing around the word “never.” In fact, Crystal Palace have only ever been in nine cup semifinals prior to Saturday (five in the FA Cup and four in the League Cup), and made just two appearances in finals (both in the FA Cup, in 1990 and 2016). The Eagles aren’t in their best form of the season heading into the weekend, without a win in their last four Premier League games (0W-2D-2L) but they did manage to rescue a point against 2nd-place Arsenal on Wednesday, thanks to Jean-Philippe Mateta’s instant impact off the bench. Mateta leads the way for Palace with 15 PL goals this season, but is yet to score one in the FA Cup.
No matter which way you look at Aston Villa’s season, 2024-25 has been a massive success for Unai Emery’s side — they reached the quarterfinals of the UEFA Champions and nearly took down PSG last week; they are within two points of qualifying again next season; and they’re back in a Cup semifinal for the first time since 2020 (since 2015 in the FA Cup). And they will believe they should be winning this trophy, as they undeniably have the deepest squad of any side remaining in the competition. Emery will happily go 22 players deep into his team if he must — and he has in recent weeks — without a single first-team injury causing problems at the moment. Even might Manchester City, who some might call favorites as the last remaining giant, are only comfortably 16 or 17 deep these days.
Crystal Palace team news
OUT: Cheick Doucoure (knee), Chadi Riad (knee) | QUESTIONABLE: Ben Chilwell (illness)
Aston Villa team news
No current injuries.
Crystal Palace vs Aston Villa prediction
Neither side will take a ton of risks and expose themselves to the other’s greatest strength — the counter-attack — but Villa have a midfield playmaker with some history in FA Cup games at Wembley, Youri Tielemans, who also happens to be in fantastic form of late, and that should prove the difference with scoring chances hard to come by. Crystal Palace 0-1 Aston Villa.
