Aston Villa defeated Sheffield United 1–1, thanks to a goal from Nicolo Zaniolo in the 97th minute, but Unai Emery’s team was unable to take the lead in the Premier League standings.
In the 87th minute, Chris Wilder’s team appeared to have won it thanks to a goal from Cameron Archer, but substitute Zaniolo scored to keep Villa’s home record unbeaten, even though they lost at Villa Park for the first time this season.
At the end of an intense match, neither team achieved the two spots they had hoped for, leaving them both disappointed. Villa moves up to second place, ahead of Liverpool. The Blades are still five points from safety, but they are at least off the bottom.
Villa may argue that Leon Bailey’s goal was disallowed after Jacob Ramsey was found to have fouled the custodian after a VAR check, and they may also point to an early penalty shout for a push on Ollie Watkins. However, they were up against resolute opposition and could not produce enough.
Emery made some optional changes in addition to the forced ones, starting Bailey in a more aggressive lineup. Maybe the Villa manager thought Sheffield United would play it safe. That’s exactly what he understood from the beginning.
In the first half, Wilder’s team had just 21% of the ball and no shots. Villa scored six goals without really posing a threat to Wes Foderingham’s net. In order to find the breakthrough, the Villa Park crowd had to be patient and persistent in their probing.
When Bailey swept home Watkins’ centre in the second half, he thought he had found it, but VAR stepped in. Inspections revealed that Ramsey was holding Foderingham close to the queue. The atmosphere intensified, but Emery started to seem a little ragged.
There were soon cries of frustration as Gustavo Hamer, who had come on as a substitute, took advantage of a clumsy pass back to Emiliano Martinez by Moussa Diaby to launch a counterattack. Villa supporters sensed that their opportunity to win was slipping away.
The away fans chanted, “We’ve had a shot,” as Martinez was forced to make his first save of the match late on. Ezri Konsa also came dangerously close to turning Max Lowe’s left-wing cross into his own net. Oliver Norwood shot past. But in the 87th minute, the big thing happened.
On the byline, Hamer skinned John McGinn. His low pass into the box found Archer, who slotted in calmly from close range. When the Villa academy graduate was replaced shortly after, some members of the home crowd jeered at him, but he had already made his point.
Villa had their chances to make their own. Alex Moreno’s header was expertly saved by Foderingham, and just as the 98th minute was about to expire, Zaniolo made a break from outside the area to receive an angled ball from Douglas Luiz and nod into the goal.
At Villa Park, fifteen Premier League games had passed, but only one team had earned any of the 45 available points. Sheffield United believed they had each of the three. They could only agree on one. Thus, Villa did, for the first time since February. Overall frustration.
“I enjoyed seeing that game. Not very dramatic, but we drew, two teams trying to play with their idea,” Emery said to Sky Sports.