Gayle lifts Eagles out of bottom three

Aston Villa 0 Crystal Palace 1

Palace, then under Ian Holloway, broke their transfer record to sign the former Bishop’s Stortford striker from Peterborough in the summer but he has started only seven Premier League games.

Pulis has not selected Gayle in any of his starting line-ups since taking over the hotseat a month ago and kept the striker on the bench at Villa Park despite leading scorer Marouane Chamakh’s suspension.