Leeds were close to nicking a win at Villa Park yesterday but Tammy Abraham leapt off the bench to secure a point
Aston Villa's Tammy Abraham
Aston Villa's Tammy Abraham(Image: PA)
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Tammy Abraham salvaged a point for Aston Villa against Leeds United, coming off the bench to level the game 1‑1 in the 88th minute.
Anton Stach scored a stunning first-half free-kick, before Abraham turned the ball past Karl Darlow in the 88th minute.
Leeds started the brighter of the two teams and created the first big chance when Dominic Calvert-Lewin was played in on goal by Jayden Bogle.
Emi Martinez, quick to sniff out the danger, pounced at Calvert-Lewin’s feet to block the striker’s effort in the box.
In the 21st minute, Emi Buendia lobbed the ball just wide of the far post following a mix-up between Bogle and Leeds goalkeeper Darlow, though it was a difficult chance to take.
Stach, standing over the ball from around 30 yards out, did not appear to have much chance of beating Martinez from such a distance and angle. However, he caught everyone off guard by bending the ball into the top corner.
Moments later, Ilia Gruev came close to finding the same top corner, striking towards goal from the edge of the box, but his effort narrowly missed the target.
Villa had a flurry of chances to equalise late in the half, with Leon Bailey producing their first shot on target just before added time.
Ollie Watkins was also played in by Morgan Rogers, but the striker failed to take the ball in his stride. Instead, he chose to shoot from the edge of the box, though his effort lacked conviction and was comfortably saved by Darlow.
Villa’s best chance of the half fell just before the whistle was blown by Michael Oliver, as Darlow denied Amadou Onana from close range before Watkins was unable to scramble the ball past the former Newcastle goalkeeper from just yards out.
Unai Emery turned to Ross Barkley and Jadon Sancho on the hour mark, with the latter combining with Matty Cash in the 66th minute to create an opportunity for Tyrone Mings. Cash sent the ball across the box, but Mings could not squeeze it through a sea of bodies.
Minutes later, Buendia struck the base of the post after driving at goal with his weaker left foot. Watkins turned in the rebound, but the offside flag was raised.
That lifted the Villa Park crowd, but just before Tammy Abraham was introduced, Lukas Nmecha had a golden chance to double Leeds’ advantage. Picked out inside the box, he only had to steer the ball past Martinez, but the goalkeeper produced another fine save to deny the forward’s goal-bound header.
Abraham made Leeds pay for that missed opportunity as he turned the ball in after Ezri Konsa won the first contact from a corner.
Here's how the National Media viewed it....
The Guardian
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.
The Telegraph
Tammy Abraham scored his first league goal since returning to Aston Villa to spare Unai Emery’s blushes against a dogged Leeds.
Abraham came off the bench to force home an equaliser on 88 minutes after Anton Stach lashed an unstoppable free-kick past Emiliano Martinez from 35 yards out on 31 minutes to silence Villa Park.
A frantic injury-time period ensued, but Leeds withstood late pressure from the hosts to come away with a deserved point.
The draw means Villa are yet to win back-to-back league games since the turn of the year while Leeds have matched their points total from the club’s last full Premier League campaign.
The visitors spurned a glorious chance to break the deadlock after just 12 minutes when Jayden Bogle’s inch-perfect pass from the right picked out Dominic Calvert-Lewin only for Martinez to make a vital stop when one-on-one inside the box.
The Sun
Supersub Tammy Abraham’s first Premier League goal for Aston Villa salvaged a point – on a day when their top three credentials were put to the test.
Manager Unai Emery’s programme notes spoke of his side being involved in a ‘beautiful and fantastic moment’ – as they challenged on two fronts at home and in Europe.
But for a large part of this game, they were two words that would not have been on the Spaniard’s lips.
Leeds looked set to claim only their second away win of the season – and take another step towards Premier League survival.
Anton Stach‘s spectacular first-half free-kick put Daniel Farke’s team in charge.
But Abraham came on with 15 minutes to go after Villa fans had been singing his name from the stands.
Abraham poked the ball home off his knee from close range after skipper Ezri Konsa had headed the ball into the six-yard box from a corner.
It was his second Villa goal – after netting in the FA Cup against Newcastle last week.
But this was his first in the league after last month’s move from Beskitas
BBC
Last month boss Unai Emery dismissed talk of his side pushing to become English champions, instead saying they were unlikely to finish in the top five - and this was another sign they are not ready to challenge in the title race.
The result means they have only picked up five points from their past four matches, although they remain in a strong position to qualify for next season's Champions League.
Before the match, writing in the matchday programme, Emery was trying to remind the fans the club were having a fine season despite recent results going against them.
He wrote: "We are at a beautiful and fantastic moment to compete in two competitions for the remainder of the season. It is the moment to show our wishes and follow our dreams.
"We have a great opportunity to achieve our objectives and dream of big things. Our position in the table is enviable and we all would have signed up for it before the season began."
Nevertheless, this was a chance missed against a side with such a poor away record and there was a smattering of boos from the home fans at half-time.
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