Senegal’s Ismaila Sarr netted two goals to help a sharp Crystal Palace overcome Aston Villa 4-1 at Selhurst Park, continuing their march toward the upper half of the Premier League standings.

Manager Oliver Glasner had expressed worries about the Eagles’ performance at home. Prior to Tuesday night’s fixture, they had secured only two league victories on their own ground.

It seemed that trend would persist when Jacob Ramsey found the back of the net with a tidy finish, but the goal was disallowed for offside.

In the 29th minute, Palace forward Ismaila Sarr opened the scoring when Chris Richards’ header was deflected by Emi Martinez, allowing Sarr to tap the ball in from close range.

Villa improved after conceding and believed they had equalized just before halftime when Morgan Rogers partnered with Ollie Watkins and scored from within the penalty area, only for the goal to be overturned by the video assistant referee (VAR).

Rogers did manage to score early in the second half after again combining with Watkins, bringing Villa level, but Jean-Philippe Mateta then put Palace back in front with a superb curled shot past substitute goalkeeper Robin Olsen, who stepped in after Martinez did not reappear for the second half.

Sarr secured his second goal of the match when Daniel Munoz made a low cross into the box, which the Senegal striker directed into the far corner, and late on, substitute Eddie Nketiah added a fourth for Palace.

This result places Glasner’s team in 12th place, after suffering just three losses in their last 15 league matches.