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Aston Villa are winless in their past four Premier League games Aston Villa twice came from behind in a thrilling Premier League contest against Crystal Palace to earn a draw and end their losing run. Palace had won just one of their opening 11 games this season but took an early lead when Ismaila Sarr raced on to Jean-Philippe Mateta's pass and slotted past Emiliano Martinez. Villa began to grow into the game and equalised 30 minutes later through Ollie Watkins, who rounded Dean Henderson and passed into an empty net to end his five-game goal drought. Unai Emery's side were buoyed by the goal and were soon awarded a penalty when Will Hughes fouled Leon Bailey, but Youri Tielemans' spot-kick was superbly saved by Henderson. Palace retook the lead 57 seconds later when 21-year-old Justin Devenny, making his second senior appearance for the club, converted Sarr's cross to finish a swift counter-attack. Henderson and Maxence Lacroix produced several key interventions to preserve the away side's lead, but neither could do anything to stop Ross Barkley heading in from a corner with just over 10 minutes left. The game became end-to-end in the closing stages with Villa piling on the pressure, but there was no repeat of Jhon Duran's goals from the bench. Palace maintained their threat on the break and Martinez made a fine save to deny Palace substitute Jeffrey Schlupp, before Jefferson Lerma fired a long-range effort narrowly wide. Though Villa avoided a fifth consecutive defeat in all competitions, Emery's side are now winless in their past six. A point moves Villa up to seventh in the Premier League table, while Palace remain in the relegation zone in 18th. Have your say on Aston Villa's performance What did you make of Crystal Palace's display? It was a mixed afternoon for Aston Villa boss Emery, who took positives and negatives from the performance. Villa showed great character to twice come from behind, while in the second half their attacking play looked much more like what fans saw last season. Were it not for the superb performances of Palace goalkeeper Henderson and Lacroix, Villa would surely have scored a third. The importance of ending the losing streak cannot be overstated, while the same can be said of Watkins scoring after drawing five blanks in the league. However, Villa are still nowhere near the level they were at last season. The ease with which Palace broke through Villa's high defensive line through transitions was alarming, especially given the visitors were missing key attacker Eberechi Eze. "Yes, it is, " Emery said when asked if Villa's vulnerability on transitions was concerning him. "We are working on it. The players are concerned as well. "We deserved more but we made some mistakes that we need to correct. We had chances to score, we came back. "A point is not bad, but the issue is we are trying to be in the top seven positions and we need to improve to be there. " Emery avoided losing five consecutive matches for the first time in his career, but there is plenty of room for improvement. While Emery may feel his side did enough to win the game, defeat would have been harsh on Palace. Oliver Glasner's team twice led and defended courageously. On another day they might have nicked the three points themselves. "I’m very proud of the team performance. We're missing some key players in attack but we still scored two amazing goals, " Glasner 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. " More performances like that and Palace surely will not be in the relegation zone come May. After the opportunity to rate players has closed, the score displayed represents the average from all the submissions by BBC Sport users. Comments can not be loaded To load Comments you need to enable Java Script in your browser Last Updated 23rd November 2024 at 18: 45 Please Note: All times UK. Tables are subject to change. The BBC is not responsible for any changes that may be made. Manager: Unai Emery Formation: 4 - 2 - 3 - 1 Manager: Oliver Glasner Formation: 3 - 4 - 2 - 1 Manager: Unai Emery Formation: 4 - 2 - 3 - 1 Manager: Oliver Glasner Formation: 3 - 4 - 2 - 1 Premier League All competitions All competitions All competitions Aston Villa have lost just one of their 12 Premier League home games against Crystal Palace (W7 D4), never conceding more than once in any of these 12 meetings (6 goals conceded in total). Following their 5-0 win against Aston Villa on the final day of last season’s Premier League, Crystal Palace are looking to win consecutive league meetings with the Villans for the first time since a run of three between 2005 and 2014. The away side has won just three of the 24 Premier League meetings between Aston Villa and Crystal Palace (D6 L15), with the Eagles’ only victory at Villa Park coming in December 2013 (1-0). Aston Villa have lost both of their last two Premier League games and could lose three in a row in the competition for just the second time under manager Unai Emery, also doing so in February 2023. Crystal Palace have registered just seven points from their opening 11 league games this season (W1 D4 L6), only picking up fewer points at this stage of a Premier League campaign in 2013-14 (4) and 2017-18 (4). Only Brighton (4) have conceded more goals via fast breaks in the Premier League this season than Aston Villa (3), who conceded two such goals last time out to Liverpool, a joint game-high in the top-flight in 2024-25. Crystal Palace have the worst differential of any team between their expected goals and actual goals scored in the Premier League this season (-6. 0, 14. 0 x G, 8 scored), as well as having the worst conversion rate (5. 1%). In Oliver Glasner’s 13 games in charge last season, the Eagles ranked top in the competition for both metrics (+7. 9 x G performance, 17. 5% conversion rate). After 1, 026 games as a manager, Aston Villa’s Unai Emery has lost four consecutive games in all competitions for the first time, a run that started with a League Cup defeat to Crystal Palace last month. The Spaniard could lose each of his first three managerial meetings with Oliver Glasner, something he last did against a specific manager in March 2018 (Zinedine Zidane). Aston Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez has the fourth lowest save percentage in the Premier League this season (60. 5%, minimum 2 games) while only Alphonse Areola (-3. 6) and José Sá (-2. 9) have conceded more goals than expected according to Opta’s expected goals on target model than the current Yashin Trophy holder (-2. 2). Crystal Palace striker Jean-Philippe Mateta has scored more Premier League goals (4) and recorded his joint-most assists (2) in the competition against Aston Villa than any other opponent; the Frenchman was directly involved in four of the Eagles’ five goals in their 5-0 win over the Villans on the final day of last season (3 goals, 1assist). Delay in match because of an injury Dean Henderson (Crystal Palace). Foul by John Mc Ginn (Aston Villa). Marc Guéhi (Crystal Palace) wins a free kick in the defensive half. Diego Carlos (Aston Villa) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul. Foul by Diego Carlos (Aston Villa). Jean-Philippe Mateta (Crystal Palace) wins a free kick in the defensive half. Foul by John Mc Ginn (Aston Villa). Tyrick Mitchell (Crystal Palace) wins a free kick in the defensive half. John Mc Ginn (Aston Villa) wins a free kick in the attacking half. Foul by Marc Guéhi (Crystal Palace). Corner, Aston Villa. Conceded by Marc Guéhi. Attempt saved. Jean-Philippe Mateta (Crystal Palace) header from the centre of the box is saved in the bottom left corner. Assisted by Tyrick Mitchell with a cross. Attempt missed. Diego Carlos (Aston Villa) left footed shot from the centre of the box misses to the right following a corner. Corner, Aston Villa. Conceded by Trevoh Chalobah. Attempt blocked. Ollie Watkins (Aston Villa) left footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked. Assisted by Ian Maatsen. Attempt blocked. Ian Maatsen (Aston Villa) left footed shot from the left side of the box is blocked. Corner, Aston Villa. Conceded by Dean Henderson. Attempt saved. Ian Maatsen (Aston Villa) left footed shot from the left side of the box is saved in the top centre of the goal. Assisted by John Mc Ginn. Attempt missed. John Mc Ginn (Aston Villa) left footed shot from very close range misses to the left. Attempt blocked. Morgan Rogers (Aston Villa) right footed shot from the right side of the six yard box is blocked. Assisted by Leon Bailey. © 2024 BBC. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.