A lacklustre Aston Villa missed out on the chance to move into the top four after being forced to settle for a frustrating 2-2 draw at already-relegated Burnley.
Villa looked a shadow of the team that swept Nottingham Forest aside on Thursday to book their place in the Europa League final and were punished when Jaidon Anthony capitalised on an Emiliano Martinez error to give his side the lead.
The Argentina shot-stopper could only parry Lesley Ugochukwu’s long-range strike back into the danger zone before Anthony tucked it into the back of the net.
Zian Flemming then had a golden opportunity to double Burnley’s lead against a poor Villa side but sprayed his effort wide of the target from point-blank range.
A disallowed goal for a tight offside call on Ollie Watkins would eventually spark a reaction from Villa, with Ross Barkley glancing home a header to equalise soon after.
After seeing his earlier effort chalked off by VAR, Watkins would eventually have his say on the game after latching onto Martinez’s long ball to poke Villa ahead, only for Flemming to sidefoot an equaliser home in response 160 seconds later.
The point at Turf Moor extends Villa’s winless run in the Premier League to three games at a critical part of the season, with Bournemouth now just four points behind them in sixth place with two games remaining in the season.
Qualifying for the Champions League season via their league position remains in their control but with Liverpool and Manchester City to come, a dark cloud of uncertainty and the potential of needing to lift the Europa League to qualify now looms above Unai Emery’s men.
More to follow…
