Garde: Villa earned luck in Palace victory

Aston Villa deserved the luck that helped them beat Crystal Palace 1-0 to record a first home Premier League win of the season, according to manager Remi Garde.

Wayne Hennessey’s blunder, fumbling a header from Joleon Lescott over the line, gifted Villa their first league victory in 20 attempts since the opening weekend.

Villa remain bottom of the table, eight points adrift of 17th-placed Swansea City, who host second-bottom Sunderland on Wednesday.

“We earned our luck by being very aggressive on the ball,” said Garde after recording his first win since taking charge at Villa Park in early November.

“We suffered so much in the previous weeks and today we are very happy. Definitely the players showed pride and we deserved to win.

“We won only 1-0 but we created many good opportunities. We didn’t sit back after we scored, we tried to score a second. We had a very good attitude. 

“It was a nice feeling to feel the crowd behind the players, it’s very important. We cannot be happy too long – we have to build on this one.”

Lescott, who captained Villa due to a foot injury restricting skipper Micah Richards to a place on the bench, admitted it has been a difficult time for his side.

“It’s not about performance, it’s about points – and we’re delighted to get three,” said Lescott. 

“Palace are a good away team but we nullified them. As a defender, you pride yourself on clean sheets and we earned it today.

“We’re not going to get carried away, but we can take pride from that performance.”