Ollie Watkins saved the blushing of Aston Villa when they earned a 1-1 draw with 10-man city of Ipswich, for whom goalkeeper Alex Palmer had a Premier League debut to remember.
Axel Tuanzebe, who enjoyed three separate loan spells with Villa between 2018 and 2022, was sent upon his return to Villa Park after receiving two yellow cards in the first half.
Ipswich had their work cut from there, but they took a surprise lead in the beginning of the second half when Liam Delap Emiliano Martinez almost defeated a smart Flick.
A victory would have taken the Ippswich level at points with 17th placed wolves, but Watkins broke their determination on the rebound after the rest Marcus Rashford hit the woodwork with a beautiful free kick.
Villa insisted on a winner in the dying phases, but Marco Asensio missed two big chances after the bank came and got a nice save from recent signing Palmer of the second chance.
Palmer, who joins West Brom with the Transfer Deadline Day, saved the best of his six saves for the last time and tackled brilliantly to give a deflected attempt by Morgan Rogers around the mail and to preserve the point of Ipswich .
While the Kieran McKenna side remains in the relegation zone, they jump Leicester City to go 18th on target difference, two points behind Wolves.
Villa leaves a place in ninth place after the 2-1 victory of Fulham over Nottingham Forest elsewhere on Saturday, with the men of Unai Emery now six points of the top four.
Data Debrief: Ipswich hung back
A point in Villa Park, especially more than 50 minutes with 10 men, will certainly be seen as a positive result for Ipswich.
However, it could have been even better after Delap had given them a shock, and the tractor boys have now lost 19 points of winning positions in the Premier League this season.
Only Bottom Club Southampton (20) and Subvur Tottenham (21) have fallen more.
Villa has since received the fourth points of losing positions and saves 14 points from such scenarios in 2024-25.
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