Barkley breaks down Palace point

Ross Barkley insists Aston Villa will regroup and work even harder to get back to winning ways after being held to a 2-2 draw at Villa Park by Crystal Palace on Saturday.

Villa were twice made to come from behind on their return to Premier League action, with Barkley’s 77th-minute header earning Unai Emery’s men a share of the spoils. 

The midfielder reflected on his side’s performance on home turf and how, on another day, the result could have been different. 

He said: “What we worked for was to get the three points. We’ve got the draw, we’ve got things to work on.

“A few disappointing moments in the game.

“Ginny [John McGinn] made a great assist to Ollie [Watkins], got back in the game, then we were unfortunate to miss the penalty, which happens, and then they went and scored.

“We spoke at half-time to sort things out, we were told to keep putting them under pressure.

“We got the goal and after that we were trying our best. We did create some chances, just weren’t able to kill them off.”

Scoring the second of two equalisers in the game, after Watkins’ goal had cancelled out Ismaïla Sarr’s opener, Barkley praised the Villans’ character and ability to pick themselves up after conceding.

He explained how the focus is now on the future for Emery’s side, ahead of a midweek visit of Juventus in the Champions League. 

“We can take that from it, coming back from a goal behind,” Barkley added.

“That’s a positive. We want to be winning games like this, because it does make a difference at the end of the season, so we’ll move on from it.

“We’ll work, we’ll regroup and analyse it, and focus on the next games.

“We’re going to carry on and keep pushing, and we’ll get better.”