It is over 100 miles which separate Selhurst Park and Villa Park, as the crow flies – and yet links between Crystal Palace and Aston Villa, historical kit colours aside, abound in football.
The two sides have met on 50 post-War occasions, with 22 of those fixtures coming in the Premier League action, both teams winning eight times apiece.
Here, we take a look at just seven players – who have all made recent senior appearances for both clubs – of the many whom have sported both red and blue, and claret and blue…
Goalkeeper Johnstone has impressed between the posts for Palace as a first-team regular since April, earning recent recalls to the England squad.
The shot-stopper made 70 appearances for the Villans over the course of two loan spells in the Championship, keeping more clean sheets than any other goalkeeper in the division during his first stay.
Another current Palace star who once plied his trade in the West Midlands, Aston Villa was Ayew’s first English club, having moved there after breaking through at senior level in Ligue 1.
The Ghanaian forward scored his first Villa goal against a Swansea City side featuring elder brother Andre and finished as Villa’s top Premier League goalscorer in his debut season, before his eventual switch to SE25 – also via Swansea.
A fans’ favourite with both clubs, Benteke was another player whose breakthrough into English football came in the claret and blue of Villa, a debut goal against Swansea heralding a sign of things to come.
Nominated for PFA Young Player of the Year and scoring 49 times in 101 appearances, after arriving at Palace – following a challenging year at Liverpool – those instincts came to the fore once again, Benteke scoring 37 times in six years in south London, including that famous stoppage-time winner against Brighton.
The tough-tackling Australian, whose arrival at Selhurst provided so much of the heart behind Palace’s promotion push, was until recently working at Villa – the final club of his celebrated playing career – as Loan Player Development Coach, but joined Tottenham in the summer.
Jedinak captained Palace between 2011 and 2016, sensationally scoring an 89th-minute winner against Peterborough United on the final day of the 12/13 season to secure an eventually-profitable Championship play-off place.
Jedinak continued to serve the club with distinction in the Premier League – leading the Eagles out at Wembley in the 2016 FA Cup final – before moving to Villa in August of that year, where he played 80 times during three seasons in the Championship as the West Midlands side also won promotion via the play-offs.
A player who perhaps enjoyed his time in SE25 more than he did in the West Midlands, Bolasie’s creativity, pace and free-spirited attacking threat made him the perfect foil for Wilfried Zaha on the opposite flank, and an immediate fans’ favourite at Selhurst Park.
Bolasie contributed an impressive 13 goals and 30 assists during 144 games at Palace, also helping the side to the Premier League and featuring in the 2016 FA Cup final, but moved to Everton in 2016 from where he was subsequently loaned out – for half a season – to Villa in their eventually-successful 18/19 promotion push, contributing to seven goals in 21 games.
One whose greatest glories perhaps came betwixt his spells at both clubs, yet solid centre-back Cahill’s earnest defending was appreciated by both Villa and Palace fans alike at either end of his career.
A Villa academy graduate who scored a remarkable overhead kick on only his fourth senior appearance – against Birmingham City, no less – England international Cahill would represent Burnley, Sheffield United, Bolton and Chelsea – where he won a spate of trophies – before playing at Palace for two seasons, playing 47 times. He retired in November 2022.
The most successful England manager of modern times, Southgate graduated from Palace’s youth system in 1990, having joined the club aged 16. He would later return to formally open Palace’s new Academy facilities after having made 191 appearances for the club, including captaining the club to the First Division title.
Defensive stalwart Southgate was equally celebrated at Villa, lifting the League Cup in his first season in the West Midlands, reaching the 99/00 FA Cup Final and playing 243 times over six seasons before departing to Middlesbrough.
While the list above (and indeed below) is by no means exhaustive, other players to have represented both clubs include:
Further individuals to have represented both clubs include Palace's first-ever and longest-serving manager, Edmund Goodman, for whom injury at Villa prompted a move into football administration and, subsequently, management; and former Villa player Terry Bullivant, who coached at Palace and briefly took the reins as caretaker manager alongside Steve Kember after Steve Bruce's resignation.
