It poured with rain all afternoon in Birmingham and the wind was swirling in Villa Park.
And in the midst of the torrential downpour, Unai Emery and Aston Villa’s problems worsened until Ross Barkley rescued a point against Crystal Palace in an exciting match, 13 minutes from time.
Not since November 2021, when a Dean Smith-led Villa team lost five in a row, have they endured such a run. It was a race that resulted in Smith’s firing.
For Emery himself, four defeats in a row before this match were the first in a coaching career spanning more than a thousand games.
A point won’t please them much after a game in which Villa dominated possession but were too open in defense and missed a crucial penalty in the first half, when the score was one apiece.
Oliver Glasner’s Palace twice took the lead through Ismaila Sarr and Justin Devenny in a half where Ollie Watkins equalized and Dean Henderson spectacularly saved Youri Tielemans’ penalty. Despite Barkley’s equalizer in the second half, Villa remain winless since October 22 and have now gone six games without a win in all competitions.
Ross Barkley (left) was Aston Villa’s hero in rescuing a point on Saturday afternoon.
The midfielder went up high at the end of the match to score the equalizer in the pouring rain.
A goal that prevented coach Unai Emery from blushing in a day that threatened defeat
Emery gave Ian Maatsen his first Premier League start, with Lucas Digne on the bench, but Maatsen could do nothing to deny Sarr, who gave Palace a surprise early lead.
Four minutes later, a through ball from Jean-Philippe Mateta found Sarr, who kept Maatsen at bay and finished beautifully past Emiliano Martínez in front of the Holte End.
It was his first Premier League goal for Palace in his twelfth game and the surprise was perhaps best illustrated by Glasner’s facial expressions on the Palace bench.
Villa’s lackluster start was summed up minutes later when Morgan Rogers, who signed a new contract earlier this week, wasted his effort from inside the area after being teed off by Leon Bailey.
It took Villa until the 28th minute to test Henderson, who made a brilliant save to deny Watkins a goal. Rogers played a sumptuous ball to Watkins, who stepped in and tried to beat his Engand team-mate at the near post, but Henderson was up to the task.
However, Watkins was not out for long and in the 37th minute, he rounded Henderson and fired into the empty net after a beautiful pass from John McGinn.
For Watkins, it was his first goal for Villa since October 19 and it was a goal that woke up Villa Park, with Leon Bailey hitting the crossbar soon after.
Villa really should have been ahead at half-time but instead fell behind after a dramatic passage of play.
Ismaila Sarr (left) scored the first goal of the game as Villa continued to be too lax defensively.
Ollie Watkins managed to get them back on level terms as the home crowd roared alongside Emery.
Things fell apart before the half as Palace regained their lead through Justin Devenny.
VAR referee Tim Robinson was advised by Alex Chilowicz to check a possible penalty after Bailey fell inside the area.
Robinson awarded the penalty, which McGinn handed over to Tielemans, but Henderson saved brilliantly and, from the resulting corner, Palace counterattacked at the other end and took the lead.
Sarr took on Devenny, who made his Northern Ireland debut during the international break, and the 21-year-old ended up sparking wild celebrations with Henderson sliding a knee in front of the traveling fans.
From Villa’s perspective, it was nothing short of chaotic just a fortnight after Liverpool ruthlessly exploited their weakness in terms of having such a high line on their own set-pieces.
At half-time, Emery brought on Matty Cash for Lamare Bogarde and Villa got off to a bright start, with Maxence Lacroix making a superb tackle to deny Watkins, who was about to pull the trigger from 12 yards.
Palace had their own chance to double their lead but Mateta headed straight at Martinez from Tyrick Mitchell’s cross.
Emery’s team came into this game on the back of four losses, but this helps stop the rot.
With time running out, Emery released Jhon Durán as Villa hoped for some more magic from the super substitute.
Robinson turned down a penalty appeal after Watkins fell inside the area, but minutes later they equalized when Barkley headed in from Tielemans’ corner.
But it was Palace who came closest to winning the match when Martínez deflected Jeffrey Schupp’s shot onto the post.
For Villa, who were booed and hosted Juventus in the Champions League midweek before traveling to Chelsea next Sunday, things must improve quickly.