Aston Villa's big positive hidden in Ipswich frustration as Unai Emery awaits three welcome boosts

Unai Emery's Aston Villa took a point away from their trip to Ipswich Town
-Credit: (Image: Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)


Aston Villa were unable to maintain their 100 per cent away record this season as they were held to a 2-2 draw by Ipswich Town at Portman Road on Sunday afternoon.

It was looking like Villa would come back to win for a third league game in a row, but Liam Delap bagged his second goal of the day to draw level 20 minutes from full-time. The former Manchester City striker put Ipswich ahead early on, before Morgan Rogers opened his account for the season to restore parity for Villa in the 15th minute.

Ollie Watkins bagged for the third consecutive league game to complete the turnaround for Villa before half-time by heading in Leon Bailey's cross from the right. Villa couldn't quite hold out for what would have been their fifth win in six league games and left with a point, which Unai Emery claimed was a fair outcome in his post-match press conference.

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Here are the talking points from the draw...

DEFENSIVE FRAILTIES EXPOSED

Villa haven't kept a clean sheet in their last 11 league games, dating back to the 2-0 win over Arsenal at the Emirates last season. They look vulnerable in defence this term, which is a continuation from the second half of last season following Boubacar Kamara's ACL injury.

The midfielder is due to return to the matchday squad after the October international break, but it remains to be seen if his return will be the silver bullet to Villa's defensive woes.

Villa's frailties were exposed at Portman Road on Sunday as they conceded two goals and four big chances in total.

Delap's first goal was a very poor goal to concede from Villa's point of view and was certainly avoidable for a number of reasons. The chance came after Ezri Konsa failed to clear his lines by giving the ball up on the edge of the box.

Diego Carlos was then ball-watching, allowing Delap to peel off him and find space in the box, before Konsa lunged in on Clarke in an attempt to block the cross after failing to get out to the winger quickly enough.

Tielemans didn't pick Delap up in the box before the forward fired at goal. Emi Martinez adopted a strong starting position, but couldn't keep the ball out and he will feel like he should have done better.

After Watkins put Villa ahead, Martinez ensured they'd go into the break with that lead intact by making an outstanding save to deny Delap. The chance for the forward came after Carlos kept him onside while Konsa and Digne were in line with each other a few yards higher up the pitch.

Carlos' poor positioning again allowed Delap to race in on goal in the second half, and he was able to beat Martinez this time. If Carlos was standing in line with Torres, then Delap would have been flagged offside, but the Brazilian centre-back wasn't alert to the threat.

Martinez could have done more to narrow the angle for Delap, who was given plenty of the far corner to aim at after entering the box.

CASH'S RETURN IS CRUCIAL

Matty Cash is expected to return to training this week - which will come as a big boost for Emery - although it is unclear whether he will be available to play a part against Bayern Munich. Considering he has been sidelined for weeks with a hamstring injury, it is unlikely he would be fit enough to start, let alone feature.

While he has been out, Emery has played Lamare Bogarde at right-back and Konsa as well. However, Konsa is Villa's best defender and would ideally be playing alongside Torres.

Because Bogarde and Kosta Nedeljkovic still have plenty to learn, Emery has been reluctant not to include Carlos in the XI in the last two league games because he'd have to pick inexperience in the full-back role alongside Konsa on the right side of defence.

Cash's return will be key to allowing Konsa to move back into central defence, while Tyrone Mings - like Kamara - is closing in on a return. However, it could still take him some time to get back up to full speed after over a year out of action due to injury.

Ollie Watkins scored Aston Villa's second goal against Ipswich
Ollie Watkins scored Aston Villa's second goal against Ipswich

THE STAT THAT SUMMED UP THE GAME

Villa have plenty of quality in their ranks and will always be able to make chances and score goals. But on Sunday, they struggled to take control of the game and thus impose themselves in the final third for extended periods.

Rogers' opener came after Ipswich's Jacob Greaves failed to clear the ball, while the hosts also did very little to prevent Bailey from finding Watkins in the box before the striker headed in past Arijanet Muric.

Jacob Ramsey had a couple of chances to make something happen, but he appears to be lacking conviction in his play at the moment. The big positive for Villa after drawing with Ipswich was Watkins continuing his fine form of late after bagging his fourth goal in three league games after also being mightily unlucky not to have scored his first Champions League goal in the win over BSC Young Boys earlier in the month.

On another day, Villa may well have left Portman Road with a victory, but they wouldn't have deserved it. Emery's side didn't win a corner all game, while Ipswich won 10 - that summed the game up.

"They always put a lot of pressure on us and we couldn't really implement our game plan," Watkins told Sky Sports. "Ipswich were always on to us and it was a bit of a basketball game which is what they wanted but we didn't.

"It was a difficult game and I think a point is a fair result. We didn't get it right in the final third, we could have been more ruthless myself included.

"A point is a fair result but disappointing because there were a lot of opportunities for us. They kept putting pressure on us, they're here at home, the made runs in behind and we grinded the result out in the end."

CLARET & BLUE VERDICT

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