Aston Villa Burnley draw leaves top-five race nervy

Aston Villa's draw at Burnley is less about the scoreline than the alarm it rings over their Champions League chase. Unai Emery's side still need three points to be mathematically certain of a top-five finish, and the run-in is not kind, with Liverpool and Manchester City among their last two domestic opponents.

Villa's slip is bigger than the result

Villa are fifth in the Premier League with 58 points from 35 matches, so the race is still open rather than broken. The problem is the pattern around this result. They have 17 points from their last 16 league games and only one from their last three, which is why the draw at Turf Moor felt like another step back.

Emery did not hide that. "Today the point is not enough," he said, and his wider assessment was just as blunt. "In the second part of the season we are struggling." He also admitted, "We are not achieving the points like in the first half," before adding that, "They are tired but they want to play."

That is the part that matters most here. Villa are not just dropping points, they are arriving at the final stretch looking short of momentum and, by Emery's own description, short on energy too. Ollie Watkins scoring and competing as he has been helps, but it does not disguise the fact that Villa have made this harder than it needed to be.

Burnley made Villa work for everything

The home side earned their point. Zian Flemming took his tally to 10 Premier League goals and was praised by Michael Jackson, who said: "Zian has been incredible. He was a joy to watch." Burnley had already shown character before that, and they kept pushing after Emiliano Martínez's parry from Lesley Ugochukwu's shot fell to Jaidon Anthony for the first goal.

Villa's response came through Watkins, who Emery described as "fantastic" and "a fighter". That fits the season he has had, with 12 league goals in 35 appearances. He kept Villa alive in the match, but the bigger picture remains the same, they are now reliant on picking up points against a brutal finish.

The draw does not decide Villa's Champions League fate on its own, despite any suggestion that it might. It leaves them needing three more points for mathematical certainty, with Liverpool and Manchester City still to come. That is a tough route for a side already showing signs of strain, and the Burnley result has made the final weeks look far less comfortable than they should have been.