Villa's nine-match winless streak finally ends with 1-0 Palace win

Aston Villa's nine-match winless streak finally came to an end as they beat Crystal Palace by a goal to leave them two points above the relegation zone in the Premier League.

Belgian striker Christian Benteke curled home low into the net from 18 yards, after Scott Dann lost the ball, for Villa's opener and his first goal of the season. The hosts enjoyed a lot of the ball but were let down by a poor final delivery.

Austrian winger Andreas Weimann was denied a second by Julian Speroni's block as Villa moved three points above their opponents, The BBC reported. Benteke, returning from suspension, was making just his fifth appearance of the season having missed the first three months of the campaign with a ruptured Achilles and his presence proved key as his strike from the tourists' only real chance of the match showed Palace, who had 17 shots, the importance of being clinical.

Both sides went into the match anxiously looking over their shoulders, with just two points separating them and the Premier League bottom three.

While Palace had been buoyed by a win at home to Liverpool and a draw at Swansea in their last two games, Villa were on the back of a nine-match winless run, their worst in the league under boss Paul Lambert.

Palace manager Neil Warnock said that he thinks if his side had Benteke they would have won comfortably and that is what they are looking for in January, admitting that they are just missing that quality at the front.

Warnock said that he can't fault the lads and now they have to do it the difficult way and get points at some tough places, adding that they didn't create enough in the box.

Villa manager Lambert said that they are unbeaten in four and have won at a difficult place, admitting that going there and winning was a massive result, but he thought it was well deserved.

Lambert said that he thought it was a big, big performance, adding that he has played with some world-class strikers and Benteke, if he keeps progressing, could be one of the best.