Barkley header salvages Villa draw with lowly Palace

Ross Barkley headed in a late equaliser as Aston Villa salvaged a 2-2 Premier League draw with lowly Crystal Palace on a wet and windy Saturday afternoon at Villa Park.

Ismaila Sarr gave Palace an early lead, Ollie Watkins levelled for Villa who then had a penalty from Youri Tielemans saved by Dean Henderson before Justin Devenny restored Palace's lead in first-half stoppage time.

Barkley grabbed the equaliser in the 77th minute when, with his back to the net, he headed home a corner from close range.

Villa, who have not won in the top flight since September, ended a run of four straight defeats to sit seventh in the table on 19 points from 12 games. Palace are 18th on eight points.

"We deserved more but we made some mistakes that we need to correct," Villa manager Unai Emery told Sky Sports. "We had chances to score, we came back. The penalty was a key moment.

"In the second half we pushed and felt close to scoring but we have to accept one point."

Sarr sparked the visitors to a sizzling start with his first Premier League goal for Palace inside four minutes, sprinting from the halfway line and on to a pass from Jean-Philippe Mateta before holding off Ian Maatsen and then tucking the ball into the net.

Watkins got the equaliser in the 36th minute, latching on to a pass from John McGinn then taking a touch past Henderson to fire into the empty net for his first goal in six Villa games.

It was just reward after numerous near misses for Watkins, including a blistering shot from distance that Henderson dived to save.

A thrilling action-packed minute late in the first half had Villa fans groaning when Henderson saved Tielemans's penalty and then 57 seconds later Devenny scored in just his second league appearance for Palace. The 21-year-old Northern Ireland international latched on to Sarr's low cross into the box to curl a shot into the bottom corner.

Barkley fired in the equaliser from a Tielemans corner midway through the second half, then scampered towards the home crowd sucking his thumb in celebration.

Jeffrey Schlupp almost scored a surprise winner for Palace with 10 minutes remaining, but he hit the post as both sides had to settle for a single point.

Palace manager Oliver Glasner praised his side, saying: "I'm very proud of the team performance. We’re missing some key players in attack but we still scored two amazing goals.

"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."