Eberechi Eze has not glanced back in 33 days since scoring his first England goal at the east end of Wembley Stadium.
He followed that goal against Latvia, with a peach against Fulham in the FA Cup quarter final, found the net at Manchester City and a skidded in a sizzling volley against Arsenal on Wednesday.
Back at Wembley’s east end, on Saturday evening, he sent Crystal Palace on their way into this year’s FA Cup final with another sublime goal. Eze does not seem to do tap-ins.
This one screamed into the top corner from 20 yards to give Palace a first-half lead over Aston Villa, which Ismail Sarr doubled after the interval. Sarr added the third on the break in stoppage time.
Villa’s campaign is in danger of falling apart at the seams. Out of Europe, albeit in fighting style, they lost at the death at Manchester City in midweek and have now been crushed in the FA Cup.
Emery will not want to see Oliver Glasner again in a hurry. Their teams have met five times inside the last 12 months and Villa have not won.
Crystal Palace are in the FA Cup final after beating Aston Villa 3-0 in breathtaking fashion
Eberechi Eze scored the opener for Palace with an explosive strike from outside the area
Ismaila Sarr struck twice in the second half to help fire the Eagles to their third FA Cup final
Palace knocked them out of the League Cup in October, took a point from Villa Park in November, put four past them at Selhurst Park in February, and five past them in May last year.
In truth, this could have been more emphatic.
Jean-Philippe Mateta had a goal ruled out and missed a penalty. And, while Villa summoned a late spell of pressure, they did not look like finding a way back into the game.
The contest took its time to come to the boil. Twenty-four minutes had passed before the first real chance fell sharply at the feet of Morgan Rogers. Maxence Lacroix missed a clearance, and Rogers was unable to readjust quickly enough. He tried to shape a volley goalward with the outside of his right boot, but it skidded wide.
From here, the Palace press began to cause problems for Villa in the deep. First Jean-Philippe Mateta had a goal ruled out. He muscled Ezri Konsa off the ball, carried it into the penalty area and beat Emi Martinez with a cool finish only to find referee Anthony Taylor had given a foul.
It was innocuous and a fortunate escape for Konsa. VAR did not get involved to overrule, but two minutes later, Martinez was beaten again. This time by Eze’s screamer. And this time it would not be disallowed.
Sarr put in the graft to create the chance. He closed down Pau Torres to win the ball and chased wide to retrieve it, then skipped past Lucas Digne and rolled a square pass in Eze’s direction, a couple of yards outside the penalty area, inviting him to hit it first time with his right foot.
Eze raced onto it and produced a strike of unerring quality, swerving towards a top corner as it fizzed past Martinez.
Eze left Villa and Emi Martinez dumbfounded when he smashed in the opener from long ranhge
Jean-Philippe Mateta saw his penalty hit the post in a nervy start to the second half
But Sarr doubled Palace’s lead to spare Mateta’s blushes with a low strike from outside the box
And Sarr outpaced Ezri Konsa to reach a through ball and finish the game in stoppage time
Villa responded and performed with greater adventure once behind, although their main threat in the first half came from set pieces. Torres headed over and Dean Henderson made a fine low save from a header by Konsa.
Palace though, are at their most dangerous when offered space on the break. Mateta powered past Konsa and produced a cross which Sarr, arriving at the back post, did not anticipate in time. He met the ball but could not direct his header on goal and Villa survived.
They survived another scare on the counter just before the interval, when a shot by Marco Asensio was blocked by Lacroix and Glasner’s team sprang out. Adam Wharton swept a pass to Sarr and Tyrick Mitchell arrived to meet his low cross only to miskick completely.
Villa made a strong start to the second half. Henderson made two saves in the opening five minutes. First from John McGinn, a fairly routine push over, and the second a fabulous save, low to his left to keep out a sweet effort from 20 yards by Digne.
When Palace were awarded a penalty in the 51st minute, it seemed as it the contribution by Henderson would be reinforced.
Boubacar Kamara tripped Eze as the England forward moved onto a pass by Wharton, who grew in influence as the game became more open. There did not seem much doubt about it despite the delay for VAR.
Mateta stepped up to take it and missed. Martinez leapt up and celebrated so wildly it seemed he might have made a save. In fact, although he went the right way, the ball had kissed a post and deflected wide.
Again, as with the goal ruled out in the first half, Palace punished Villa while they were reeling.
Oliver Glasner’s men will hope to win Palace a first major trophy in their history
Unai Emery’s wait for a first trophy with Aston Villa will extend into next season
Palace reportedly brought around 35,000 supporters to a carnivalesque Wembley
Wharton snapped in to win the ball from Youri Tielemans in midfield and Mateta nursed a first-time pass to Sarr, who advanced before unleashing another brilliant finish from outside the penalty area and beating Martinez inside to the post to his right.
Emery made his first changes and Leon Bailey, one of those thrown on, came close to pulling a goal back in a scramble, when a shot was deflected over by a heap of players.
Villa applied pressure but Henderson kept a tidy goal, well protected by those in front of him and Sarr burst away for his second to send Palace into the final for the first time since 2016.
