Welcome to LIVE coverage of Aston Villa's must-win match versus Crystal Palace. Villa cannot be relegated today, but are seven points from safety and therefore in dire need of a victory. Palace are in a rut, so could be the ideal opponents. Team news is coming up next...

The pre-game scene, remembering the late, great Jack Charlton.

Expect plenty of discussion about where the arm starts and shoulder ends after that. It was certainly a surprise to see the on-field call overruled.

GOAL DISALLOWED! After a few replays, the VAR verdict is that Sakho worked the ball in with his arm and shoulder. Tight call. Very lucky escape for Villa, who defended terribly.

GOAL! Aston Villa 0-1 Crystal Palace (Sakho). Grealish gives away a cheap free kick, McArthur floats it to the near post and Sakho - relatively unchallenged - works the ball in off his back, looping over a felled Reina. VAR having a look though...

Palace clear the corner but then give away a cheap free kick, keeping Villa's big men up. However, Grealish's poor delivery sums up Villa's last few weeks and sees the opening wasted.

Grealish leads the hosts' first charge and sets up Hourihane on the edge of the box, but Ward is across to block. Corner to Villa.

Milivojevic crosses for ex-Villa man Benteke but overcooks it.

After both sides take a knee in support of Black Lives Matter, Palace get the game underway. They are in white, with Villa in their traditional colours.

There is a moment of silence before play to remember Jack Charlton, a World Cup winner and legend of both English and Irish football, following his passing yesterday.

One late change to the Villa team. Kourtney Hause has been injured in the warm-up, so Ahmed Elmohamady comes in for him at right-back and Konsi shifts into the centre of defence.

ASTON VILLA: Reina, Elmohamady, Konsa, Mings, Taylor, Luiz, McGinn, Hourihane, Grealish, Trezeguet, Samatta.

Zaha revealed earlier that he had woken up to racist abuse on social media, so there will be added importance when the players kneel ahead of kick-off. Both clubs and the Premier League have already expressed their support for Zaha and disgust at the abuse sent his way.

Only 10 minutes until the game starts, so why not catch up on some of the latest transfer gossip from the continent first?

Here's a reminder of the reverse fixture, which, like most games this season, featured VAR controversy.

As for Palace, on 42 points, they have little to play for beyond pride - so some fans may be frustrated by the lack of experimentation from the manager. A win would lift them potentially to 11th, depending on the goal swing, but both relegation and European qualification are out of the question. Bettering the club's record Premier League points haul of 49 may be a target, and they best get a move on if so.

Villa have also kept just one clean sheet in their last 19 games in all competitions and that came against Sheffield United, who were infamously denied a goal by faulty goal-line technology.

To put Villa's dire form into numbers, they have won just two points from their last 10 Premier League games and have lost three on the spin, not scoring a goal in their last three encounters.

It is a glorious day in Birmingham at least.

Villa are "fighting for our lives" according to the manager, and "have to go into these games believing that we can win every single one of them." Smith added, "I’ve been in situations like this before, Aston Villa is my life at the moment and we’re doing everything we can.” However, with no wins from six games since the restart and only four left, time is running out and Villa's fate out of their hands.

Palace last won here in late 2013 and Ward is the only survivor on either side from that match.

Expect a tight game. Six of the last seven meetings between the two clubs have been decided by one goal, with the other fixture ending in a draw.

Roy Hodgson too makes one change and his is enforced - Mamadou Sakho is in for the injured Gary Cahill. Jordan Ayew, who scored the winner when these two met earlier in the season, is joined in attack by Christian Benteke and Wilfried Zaha, who both scored against Chelsea in midweek.

CRYSTAL PALACE: Guaita, Ward, Dann, Sakho, Van Aanholt, Milivojevic, Kouyate, McArthur, Zaha, Benteke, Ayew. Subs: Hennessey, Kelly, Riedewald, Woods, Mitchell, McArthy, Meyer, Townsend, Pierrick.