Aston Villa 2-2 Crystal Palace

Aston Villa shared four goals with Crystal Palace in a frenetic Premier League encounter at Villa Park.

Ismaïla Sarr put the Eagles in front after four minutes when he rounded off a clinical counter-attack.

Ollie Watkins levelled the scores after 36 minutes and the hosts were given a golden chance to take the lead when they were awarded a penalty minutes before the break.

However, Youri Tielemans’ spot kick was saved by Dean Henderson and the visitors led at half-time courtesy of a stoppage-time strike from Justin Devenny.

Despite bossing proceedings in the second half, it took until the 77^th minute for Villa to equalise, with Ross Barkley glancing a header home from a corner.

The home side were also indebted to Emi Martínez for a stunning save from Jeffrey Schlupp inside the final ten minutes as the points were shared in B6.

John McGinn returned to the starting XI to make his 250^th appearance for the club as one of four changes from Villa’s last outing, with Lamare Bogarde, Ian Maatsen and Barkley also selected.

The Villa captain and his teammates faced an early deficit to overcome when the Eagles sliced through and took the lead after four minutes.

Jean-Philippe Mateta picked the ball up just inside his own half and slipped a pass into the path of Sarr, who held off Maatsen and slotted past Martínez.

The home side responded by exerting a high level of control on the game and penning Palace back, but an off-target header from Watkins was the closest they came to restoring parity before carving out a great chance just before the half-hour mark.

Leon Bailey set Watkins away with a sublime through ball with the outside of his foot, with the striker working space for a shot and forcing Henderson into a fine one-handed save.

Watkins didn’t have to wait much longer to get his name on the scoresheet, bagging his sixth league goal of the season when he collected McGinn’s through ball, rounded Henderson and slotted into an empty net.

The atmosphere inside Villa Park was immediately transformed, with the home side flowing forward again from the restart and seeing Bailey strike the angle of the goal.

Another huge roar went around the stadium minutes later when referee Tim Robinson awarded Villa a penalty after he was called to the monitor to see Will Hughes stamp on Bailey’s ankle.

Tielemans stepped up to take the spot kick but saw his effort saved by Henderson, with momentum swinging back to Palace in a frantic sequence of events before half-time.

From facing a deficit moments earlier, the visitors were in front for the second time when Devenny finished off a counter-attack led by the lively Sarr.

Villa emerged for the second half keen to make a fast start, and they would have levelled hade McGinn been able to reach Bailey’s tantalising ball across the face of goal.

A last-ditch tackle from Maxence Lacroix denied Watkins a shot on goal at one end before Mateta sent a header goalwards at the other as the game continued to flow at a fast pace.

Jhon Durán and Lucas Digne entered the fray with just over 20 minutes left as the away side continued to hold firm.

Watkins continued to look the most likely player in claret and blue to find a way through, but it was Barkley who produced the next key moment of the match.

The midfielder rose highest in the box to meet a Tielemans corner and glance it into the far corner with 13 minutes left to play.

Palace threatened again almost immediately as Schlupp’s skidding drive was tipped onto the post via a world-class save from Martínez.

A tense final ten minutes ensued as both sides eyed three points, but neither team could find a route to goal in the final ten minutes.