Birthday boy Ismaila Sarr stars as Crystal Palace hammer Aston Villa

Ismaila Sarr scored twice as Crystal Palace’s sensational second half of the Premier League season continued with a 4-1 win over Aston Villa.

The Eagles made it five wins in seven as they built off Saturday’s victory at Fulham with Sarr’s double – on his 27th birthday – Jean-Philippe Mateta’s 12th league goal of the season and Eddie Nketiah’s late strike.

Morgan Rogers put in a stellar performance for Villa but his goal was not enough as Unai Emery’s men failed to build on their dramatic 2-1 fightback over Chelsea at the weekend.

Villa’s pace on the break threatened Palace’s defence who struggled to contain the pace of Rogers and Ollie Watkins.

With the duo occupying their defenders, Jacob Ramsey picked up a pocket of space in behind and slotted past Dean Henderson in the 25th minute – only for the linesman to raise his flag for offside and deny Emery’s men a dream start.

But just four minutes later, Palace went on to claim a legitimate goal to hamper Villa’s momentum. The Eagles threw numbers forward and after Chris Richards got up early to force Emiliano Martinez into action, the keeper palmed the ball into the path of the alert Sarr who smashed home from close range.

The goal was cleared after a VAR check and the Senegal international continued to show his quality, with his volleyed saved by Martinez shortly after to stop him from collecting his second.

But Watkins and Rogers combined for Villa’s second disallowed goal. Rogers – who will be on the radar of England manager Thomas Tuchel, who was in attendance at Selhurst Park – slipped his strike partner wide before receiving it back first-time and finishing to round off a stunning move.

The offside flag denied the Champions League quarter-finalists once again though,