Aston Villa 2 Crystal Palace 2

 We finally made it to a Villa game on Saturday and unfortunately the indifferent run of form continued with a 2-2 draw against Crystal Palace. 

Villa looked a little bereft of fresh ideas and without Konsa in central defence and both Kamara and Onana out in defensive midfield there was little protection when Palace stuck to their plan of hitting Villa on the break.

It took Palace only 4 minutes to take the lead when Ismailla Sarr did exactly that and hit Villa on the break. Villa pressed to get the equaliser and after a few decent saves from Henderson, Ollie Watkins managed to go round the keeper in  the 37th minute to get the equaliser. It felt like they weren't done and were going to take the lead in any minute. Bailey was judged to have been fouled at the end of the half and Villa were awarded a penalty. Tielemans stepped up to take it, but it was soft and Henderson made the save. To Villa's dismay they cleared after the ensuing corner and again hit Villa on the break to make it 2-1 through Devenney. So Palace finished the half 2-1 up despite a plethora of chances to Villa including one where Bailey hit the bar.

The second half followed a similar tone to the first with Villa pressuring Palace, but they didn't get an equaliser until the 77th minute when Tielemans crossed for Barkley to head home. At this point it felt like Villa would go on to win the game, but it wasn't to be. It finished 2-2 and Palace celebrated like they'd just won the Champions League, which I suppose given they'd lost the lead twice despite being slightly odd shows how far Villa have come in the couple of years Unai Emery has been in charge.






 

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