Aston Villa were held to a 1-1 draw at home to Sheffield United on Friday night as Unai Emery’s side missed the opportunity to go top of the Premier League.
Despite Aston Villa’s dominance throughout the match, it was Cameron Archer who opened the scoring against his former club late on as he threatened to condemn the hosts to their first defeat on home soil since February.
But Nicolo Zaniolo responded in the seventh minute of added time as he nodded home an inch-perfect Douglas Luiz cross to save the Villans blushes.
Unai Emery will have felt the key decisions went against his side on the night as the Blades sat back and absorbed lots of sustained pressure. In the first half, Ollie Watkins was bundled over inside the box by Vini Souza, but the referee gave no penalty.
Although the visitors arrived at Villa Park bottom of the table and with the worst away defence in the division, they very nearly kept a clean sheet until the hosts finally came up with a moment of quality.
Just as it looked like Villa were running out of ideas, Luiz’s cross was glanced home by Zaniolo for his first Premier League goal.
On a night when the majority performed below their usual standards, the Brazilian was magnificent on his return to the side, and everything went through him.
How did Douglas Luiz perform vs Sheffield United?
Luiz was suspended for the 2-1 win over Brentford on Sunday, but he showed how much Villa missed him.
As he so often is, the 25-year-old was the driving force for his side going forward and still had a huge influence on the contest despite Sheffield United’s attempts to nullify him.
Alongside John McGinn, he was the playmaker, the one who was attempting to thread passes through the eye of a needle and keep things ticking over.
His influence in the centre of the park was demonstrated by the fact he made a staggering 108 touches and completed 93% of his passes, as per Sofascore, but also how he performed from a defensive point of view, winning the battles against his opponents.
Luiz won four ground duels, five of his six aerial duels and made two tackles as he successfully overpowered a Blades midfield that tried everything to shut him down.
The £75k-a-week star topped off his performance by producing a moment of brilliance for Zaniolo’s goal and securing a draw for his side
Although it was ultimately two points dropped for Villa, that point could make a huge difference come the end of the season.
