Aston Villa and Crystal Palace share the spoils in thrilling 2-2 draw

Aston Villa and Crystal Palace share the spoils in thrilling 2-2 draw! Aston Villa twice came from behind in a thrilling Premier League contest against Crystal Palace to earn a draw and end their losing run.

Palace had won just one of their opening 11 games this season but took an early lead when Ismaila Sarr raced on to Jean-Philippe Mateta’s pass and slotted past Emiliano Martinez.

Villa began to grow into the game and equalised 30 minutes later through Ollie Watkins, who rounded Dean Henderson and passed into an empty net to end his five-game goal drought.

Aston Villa and Crystal Palace share the spoils

Unai Emery’s side were buoyed by the goal and were soon awarded a penalty when Will Hughes fouled Leon Bailey, but Youri Tielemans’ spot-kick was superbly saved by Henderson.

Palace retook the lead 57 seconds later when 21-year-old Justin Devenny, making his second senior appearance for the club, converted Sarr’s cross to finish a swift counter-attack.

Henderson and Maxence Lacroix produced several key interventions to preserve the away side’s lead, but neither could do anything to stop Ross Barkley heading in from a corner with just over 10 minutes left.

The game became end-to-end in the closing stages with Villa piling on the pressure, but there was no repeat of Jhon Duran’s goals from the bench.

Palace maintained their threat on the break and Martinez made a fine save to deny Palace substitute Jeffrey Schlupp, before Jefferson Lerma fired a long-range effort narrowly wide.

Though Villa avoided a fifth consecutive defeat in all competitions, Emery’s side are now winless in their past six.

A point moves Villa up to seventh in the Premier League table, while Palace remain in the relegation zone in 18th.

More worries for Emery

It was a mixed afternoon for Aston Villa boss Emery, who took positives and negatives from the performance.

Villa showed great character to twice come from behind, while in the second half their attacking play looked much more like what fans saw last season.

Were it not for the superb performances of Palace goalkeeper Henderson and Lacroix, Villa would surely have scored a third.

The importance of ending the losing streak cannot be overstated, while the same can be said of Watkins scoring after drawing five blanks in the league.

However, Villa are still nowhere near the level they were at last season.

The ease with which Palace broke through Villa’s high defensive line through transitions was alarming, especially given the visitors were missing key attacker Eberechi Eze.

“Yes, it is,” Emery said when asked if Villa’s vulnerability on transitions was concerning him.

“We are working on it. The players are concerned as well.

“We deserved more but we made some mistakes that we need to correct. We had chances to score, we came back.

“A point is not bad, but the issue is we are trying to be in the top seven positions and we need to improve to be there.”

Emery avoided losing five consecutive matches for the first time in his career, but there is plenty of room for improvement.

Gutsy performance from Palace

While Emery may feel his side did enough to win the game, defeat would have been harsh on Palace.

Oliver Glasner’s team twice led and defended courageously. On another day they might have nicked the three points themselves.

“I’m very proud of the team performance. We’re missing some key players in attack but we still scored two amazing goals,” Glasner said.

“I’m very proud how they played together, worked together, fight together and believed in getting a point here.

“Overall it was a good performance for us and we go home very pleased with the point.”

More performances like that and Palace surely will not be in the relegation zone come May.