{"id":303342,"date":"2026-02-21T20:00:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T20:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/303342\/"},"modified":"2026-02-21T20:00:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T20:00:11","slug":"aston-villa-and-chelsea-drop-points-in-the-premier-league-after-being-held-to-draws","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/303342\/","title":{"rendered":"Aston Villa and Chelsea drop points in the Premier League after being held to draws"},"content":{"rendered":"

MANCHESTER, England (AP) \u2014 Aston Villa\u2019s Premier League<\/a> title challenge was hit after being held to a 1-1 draw at home to relegation-fighting Leeds on Saturday. <\/p>\n

It took an 88th-minute equalizer from substitute Tammy Abraham<\/a> to rescue a point for Villa \u2014 but the draw means Unai Emery\u2019s team could be cut further adrift of Arsenal and Manchester City at the top of the standings. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere are two sides \u2014 one is that we lost two points, or that we won one point,\u201d Villa coach Unai Emery said. \u201cWe have 51 points. Today, we lost two, or we won one. At this point, hopefully, we can get the next matches, understanding this point better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Second-place City plays Newcastle in the later kickoff on Saturday and leader Arsenal is at Tottenham on Sunday. <\/p>\n

Chelsea was also held to a 1-1 draw by another team battling for survival \u2014 Burnley. <\/p>\n

Villa\u2019s draw leaves it seven points behind Arsenal and continued its shaky recent form of just one win in four in the league.<\/p>\n

It could have been worse after Aton Stach put Leeds ahead from free kick in the 31st. <\/p>\n

Abraham, a January signing from Besiktas, came on in the 75th and leveled from close range for his first Premier League goal since his move to Villa Park. <\/p>\n

Leeds is seven points clear of the relegation zone.<\/p>\n

Chelsea hit by late goal<\/p>\n

Zian Flemming scored in the 93rd at Stamford Bridge to salvage a draw for second to last place Burnley. <\/p>\n

Joao Pedro\u2019s goal in the fourth looked like being enough for the home team, which went down to 10 men when Wesley Fofana was sent off in the 72nd.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou need to be ruthless in this league because if you don\u2019t defend set plays well then you get punished,\u201d Chelsea coach Liam Rosenior said. \u201cI felt we were very happy \u2014 and it\u2019s not the way I want to play \u2014 just to maintain possession, I want us to go for more goals.\u201d <\/p>\n

The point moved Chelsea up to fourth \u2014 above Manchester United on goal difference, having played a game more. But the race for Champions League qualification could be even tighter by the end of the weekend with Liverpool now having the chance to move level on points with Chelsea if it beats Nottingham Forest on Sunday. <\/p>\n

United plays Everton on Monday. <\/p>\n

Milner sets new Premier League record<\/p>\n

James Milner played his 654th game in the Premier League to set a new appearance record<\/a> for the competition. <\/p>\n

The 40-year-old Milner surpassed the previous benchmark set by Gareth Barry, which had stood since 2018. And he doesn\u2019t sound like he\u2019s ready to call it a day yet. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll keep pushing, let\u2019s see where that takes us,\u201d Milner said after Brighton\u2019s 2-0 win, which delivered a setback to Brentford\u2019s Champions League challenge.<\/p>\n

Goals from Diego Gomez and Danny Welbeck put Brighton in control before the break at the Gtech Community Stadium.<\/p>\n

Brentford is five points off the Champions League places.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s now just one loss in six for West Ham after a 0-0 draw at home against Bournemouth as Nuno Espirito Santo\u2019s team battle to avoid the drop continues to gain momentum.<\/p>\n

West Ham, in 17th, is two points away from safety, but has played a game more than its closest rival Forest. <\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

James Robson is at https:\/\/x.com\/jamesalanrobson<\/a><\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP soccer: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/soccer<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MANCHESTER, England (AP) \u2014 Aston Villa\u2019s Premier League title challenge was hit after being held to a 1-1…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":303343,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[25907,152742,106368,57739,152747,152746,85,46,152740,152744,152743,41272,20906,135197,15157,112179,152748,2619,19711,105,152741,92028,74803,152745,6787],"class_list":{"0":"post-303342","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-arsenal-fc","9":"tag-aston-villa-fc","10":"tag-chelsea-fc","11":"tag-danny-welbeck","12":"tag-diego-gomez","13":"tag-gareth-barry","14":"tag-il","15":"tag-israel","16":"tag-james-milner","17":"tag-james-robson","18":"tag-joao-pedro","19":"tag-leeds","20":"tag-leeds-united","21":"tag-liam-rosenior","22":"tag-manchester-city-fc","23":"tag-newcastle-united-fc","24":"tag-nuno-espirito-santo","25":"tag-premier-league","26":"tag-soccer","27":"tag-sports","28":"tag-tammy-abraham","29":"tag-tottenham-hotspur-fc","30":"tag-unai-emery","31":"tag-wesley-fofana","32":"tag-west-ham-united-fc"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=303342"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303342\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/303343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=303342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=303342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=303342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}