Ross Barkley's header helps Aston Villa save a point against Crystal Palace | first division

When Villa Aston The last time he lost five games in a row, Dean Smith paid with his work. The situation was not so dire for Unai Emery, but he needed to end a dismal four-game losing streak and was deeply frustrated that his team failed to convert dominance into three points.

Ollie Watkins and Ross Barkley equalized twice for Aston Villa, who also had a Youri Tielemans penalty saved. They were beaten twice on the counter-attack, resulting in Ismaïla Sarr and Justin Devenny giving Palace the lead. Villa dominated from the start, but lacked the edge expected of a Champions League team.

“We're making mistakes and teams are scoring, so we're not getting the points we deserve,” Emery said. “There is still work to do. We are really convinced that this is how to play, but we are not going to get the three points; “We deserve, more or less, to win every game at home.”

Oliver Glasner prepared his team to play on the counterattack and it was very effective. Jean-Philippe Mateta often looked like a man playing against boys with his strength, speed and ability to hold on to the ball while burgundy and blue jerseys bounced off him. He created the first goal within four minutes, opening up Villa with a pass for the lightning-quick Sarr to chase down, while keeping Ian Maatsen at bay, before calmly slotting past Emiliano Martínez to silence all but a Villa corner Park.

The pattern of play was already set, as Villa lacked the speed of thinking and confidence that helped them qualify for the Champions League last season. However, it was a real moment of quality that got them back into the game. John McGinn saw a characteristic run from Watkins, timing the pass perfectly to take Dean Henderson out of his goal, thinking he could get there first only to be beaten by the striker, who rounded the goalkeeper to score his first goal in six games for Villa. .

The equalizer energized Villa and Leon Bailey soon rattled the crossbar as they looked to complete the comeback. Bailey was the protagonist of the penalty when Will Hughes stepped on his ankle inside the area.

Referee Tim Robinson gave nothing but was sent to the screen by his teammates. It seemed harsh to overturn the original decision, and Hughes watched the replay on the big screen with a confused smile. There was a wider smile as Henderson dived magnificently to his left to deflect Tielemans' penalty.

Henderson was celebrating in front of the away team almost immediately when Palace came out of the resulting corner and 21-year-old Devenny scored his first goal for the club on his second appearance after a fluid back-to-front move.

Villa had 70% of the possession but only managed five of their 17 shots on target against a struggling Palace side. The hosts were often quite heavy handed, struggling to find the right pass to open up a disciplined Eagles defense and needing a set piece to secure the tie.

The visitors had their backs to the wall throughout the second half with 11 men constantly behind the ball as they tried to hold on for victory. It seemed inevitable that Palace would fail to come away with the points and it was Barkley who took advantage of the openness to fire in from a Tielemans corner. The midfielder was given too much space, after a rare lapse of concentration by Palace, at the near post before fleeing, sucking his finger in celebration.

“There are two emotions I have” Crystal Palace said head coach Glasner. “Firstly, the most important one is to be proud of the team, the performance and the style given the circumstances, without attacking players, but still scoring two fantastic goals. I'm very proud of how we defended together and scored the goals. The other emotion is disappointment because we led twice and conceding the second on a set piece is not so good.”

Jeffrey Schlupp almost gave Palace a surprise when he hit the post with 10 minutes remaining, but the points were shared. Villa have stopped the rot, but with Juventus in town on Wednesday, they know improvement is needed.