Villa ‘deserved more’ from draw with Palace, says Emery

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

The result sees Villa's winless streak stretch to six games in all competitions (D2 L4), equaling their longest run without a win under Emery (also six in April-May 2024).

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

But after seeing a penalty saved and hitting the woodwork, Emery felt his team should have gotten more out of the game.

“We deserved more, but we made some mistakes that we have 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 was directly involved in 50 goals in 80 Premier League appearances at Villa Park (35 goals, 15 assists), now the 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 give Villa the lead from the spot just before half time, but placed his shot at a safe height for Dean Henderson, who gambled in the right direction.

It allowed Palace to break the other end through Sarr, who crossed for Devenny to send the visitors ahead just before half-time.

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

“Here at home we were thinking about how strong we were, winning fifteen games in a row and how we can restore confidence, impose our game plan. We lose some chances. We give away a few chances to the opponent and make some mistakes.” , he told reporters.

“We won't get three points, but we deserve to win here at home. We played well against Arsenal, Bournemouth, Man United and here. But we make mistakes and they punish us.”

“Overall we had more chances, we dominated the game. We have to correct the games we play in like we did today and get more points.”

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

The visitors had also eliminated key players Eberechi Eze and Adam Wharton, leaving Oliver Glasner pleased with his side's fighting display.

“I am very proud of the team's performance. We are missing some key players in attack, but we still scored two great goals,” he said.

“I am very proud of the way they played together, worked together, fought together and believed in getting a point here.

“Overall it was a good performance for us and we go home very happy with the point.”