This felt like the day Aston Villa’s faint title hopes were extinguished despite Tammy Abraham’s late equaliser against Leeds. Unai Emery’s side have won only once in their past four Premier League home games and fell short again to leave them seven points behind leaders Arsenal. They were punished for a sloppy opening 45 minutes when they failed to get almost anything right against their more aggressive opponents.
Anton Stach’s incredible free-kick looked like it would secure victory for Leeds until the 88th minute but it felt like another important step in their fight for survival.
The Premier League is Villa’s priority, sitting above the Europa League in the pecking order, but they are stuttering. For the remaining 11 games, the focus will be on holding off any charge from the teams sitting below them. They cannot continue to not turn up for 45 minutes at a time and need to find a cutting edge.
“It’s a good point,” Emery said. “We are setting our standards high, and sometimes we can become frustrated, because we are not achieving the same results with the same process, like today. But overall, our consistency is still there, and our demand is still there. And if we are third, it’s because we are being consistent and we are being demanding.”
The opening exchanges passed without incident as the teams sought to find rhythm. Leeds were the first to show some creativity when Jayden Bogle clipped a fine pass over the Villa defence to release Dominic Calvert-Lewin but Emiliano Martínez was alert.
Despite the 12 places separating the two sides, with one eyeing the title and the other a relegation scrap, Villa had scored only one more goal than Leeds. It was not a surprise to the witnesses inside Villa Park, as Emery’s team were heavily reliant on set pieces but the execution was abysmal, while Morgan Rogers struggled to get into the game in a packed midfield area, removing a key Villa weapon.
Leeds looked more confident and dangerous, with the threat mainly coming from the overlapping wing-backs Bogle and Gabriel Gudmundsson. In the end, however, it was a free-kick that brought the opener. Ollie Watkins committed a needless foul 35 yards from his own goal and Stach shocked everyone, especially Martínez and the away end, by whipping it into the top corner for a goal of the season contender.
Leeds were hostile and Villa wilting. Calvert-Lewin caused problems with his physicality and clever movement. If this was a battle to be England’s backup No 9 at the World Cup this summer, the Leeds man was putting Watkins, who spurned a one-on-one, in his shadow.
Karl Darlow produced a magnificent point-blank save from Amadou Onana and reacted to remove the danger to ensure Leeds were ahead at the break, which came with a smattering of Villa boos.
Villa made the minimum adjustments and came back out with greater purpose and energy to increase the tempo. It did not have the desired effect immediately, forcing Emery to seek changes from the bench, sending on Ross Barkley and Jadon Sancho to revive Villa.
Leeds backed off, giving Villa as much time and possession as they liked. It was understandable for a team who have won once away all season but it made the outcome inevitable. Sancho was dangerous down the right against a tiring defence, paying the price for their earlier exertions, but Villa still lacked quality in the key moments.
The vociferous home support felt it had arrived when Emi Buendía smashed a shot against the post and Watkins tapped in the rebound but he was offside. Villa were in charge and Leeds in a vice but they almost found a second when Lukas Nmecha, within a minute of coming on, met a Bogle cross with a diving header, only for Martínez to save.
The deserved leveller came from a rare corner that found its target as Ezri Konsa knocked it down to Abraham, who stabbed home, to provide his own personal reminder to Thomas Tuchel. There was only one potential winner at that stage but Leeds clung on for a point that felt more valuable to them than Villa.
Daniel Farke said: “It’s crazy that you travel away as a newly promoted side here from one of the title contenders, one of the best teams in this country and also in Europe, and you are slightly disappointed with just one point.”
