Villa ´deserved more´ from draw with Palace, says Emery

Unai Emery suggested Aston Villa “deserved more” than a point after coming from behind twice to draw 2-2 with Crystal Palace at Villa Park.

The result sees Villa’s winless streak extend to six matches across all competitions (D2 L4), equalling their longest run without a victory under Emery (also six in April-May 2024).

After Ismaila Sarr’s early opener, the hosts needed Ollie Watkins to pull them level before Ross Barkley cancelled out Justin Devenny’s strike with 13 minutes to go.

Yet having seen a penalty saved and hitting the woodwork, Emery felt his team should have got more from the match.

“We deserved more, but we made some mistakes that we need to correct. We had chances to score, we came back. The penalty was a key moment,” he told Sky Sports.

“In the second half, we pushed and felt close to scoring, but we have to accept one point.”

50 – Ollie Watkins has been directly involved in 50 goals in 80 Premier League appearances at Villa Park (35 goals, 15 assists), now the outright-most of any Aston Villa player in the competition (Gabriel Agbonlahor, 49). Emblem. pic.twitter.com/BihcvW0Uq6

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) November 23, 2024

Youri Tielemans had the opportunity to put Villa ahead on the stroke of half-time from the spot but placed his shot at a saveable height for Dean Henderson, who guessed the right way.

It allowed Palace to break down the other end through Sarr, who squared to Devenny to send the visitors into the lead just before the break.

Emery admitted his players are “concerned” about their vulnerability in transitions and rued the mistakes being made.

“Here at home, we were thinking how strong we were, winning 15 games in a row and how we can recover confidence, impose our gameplan. We are losing some opportunities. We are conceding a few chances for the opponent and making some mistakes,” he told reporters.

“We are not getting three points but deserving here at home to win. We played well against Arsenal, Bournemouth, Man United and here. But we are making mistakes and they are punishing us.

“Overall we had more chances, we dominated the match. We have to correct matches where we play like we did today and get more points.”

Villa led their opponents comfortably on expected goals (xG), accruing a total of 3.18 compared to Palace’s 1.27.

The visitors also had key players Eberechi Eze and Adam Wharton out, leading Oliver Glasner to be pleased with his side’s fighting display.

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