Aston Villa were unable to secure three points against Sunderland on Sunday. The way, however, in which the draw came about was entirely different compared to the previous Premier League encounters.
The side found a different way to achieve a result that does not meet the required expectations. Reinildo Mandava picked up a completely unnecessary red card for kicking Matty Cash. Villa should have been able to comfortably see off the game once that happened.
Instead, it was Sunderland who found the equalizer and, in fact, looked a little more composed and capable of winning the three points outright. Unai Emery's side has faced odd circumstances that ended up resulting in the inability to win. Against the Black Cats, though, fortune appeared to be heavily in favor of Villa.
Yet, Villa left the match with only a point despite playing up a man for most of the 90 minutes. Ordinarily, a draw away from home is something that is applauded in the Premier League. When taking all of the factors into account, however, this is the type of game that needed to result in three points.
Villa enjoyed a good amount of possession once again, yet the lack of connectivity in the final third showed up once again, and Sunderland by and large could feel as if it was they who deserved the full complement of points.
Aston Villa's inability to take advantage of great opportunity
Despite a great Cash goal, the side was not able to consistently threaten the opposition goal, even with a man advantage. This is something that needs to be viewed as quite troubling for Villa moving forward until a clear change can be seen.
There is likely a lot of head scratching going on at Bodymoor. Time will tell how Unai Emery will go about addressing some of the puzzling aspects that have plagued Villa to this point in the season.