Aston Villa 2 QPR 2 - Report

Frustratingly for home boss Dean Smith, his team also began 2019 as they had finished 2018, by dropping points from a winning position.

Tammy Abraham put Villa ahead with his 15th of the season midway through the first half.

Yet the hosts later had to rely on the striker’s 16th to take a point, after goals from Luke Freeman and Eberechi Eze had turned the game on its head.

Villa were then unable to find a winner despite an incredible 13 minutes of second-half stoppage time, following a head injury to QPR keeper Joe Lumley.

The draw, the third in four games at Villa Park, saw the home side drop to 10th in the Championship, though the gap to the play-off positions remains at five points.

More importantly, they have now won just one in six and though the past five home games have produced 29 goals, the problem for Smith is that 14 of those have been scored in the home net.

Having named an unchanged team for the 1-1 draw at Preston, Smith brought in five new faces for the visit of the R’s.

The most notable of those was the return of recalled goalkeeper Jed Steer in place of the injured Orjan Nyland.

Tommy Elphick, who Smith chose to bring back from Hull, went straight into the side, while the other changes came in midfield and attack where Albert Adomah, Jonathan Kodjia and Birkir Bjarnason all came in, the latter for his first start since the reverse fixture at Loftus Road back in October.

Other than Nyland, Anwar El Ghazi, Glenn Whelan, Yannick Bolasie and Ahmed Elmohamady were then men to make way.

James Bree kept his place but moved over to right-back, following Elphick’s return.

The source of the opening goal came as little surprise, with Abraham netting for the fifth consecutive game at Villa Park.

In truth, the 21-year-old might have for off the mark sooner but was denied by the legs of Lumley, after latching on to a through pass from the lively Albert Adomah.

James Chester also went close early on and as Villa gradually turned the screw, the chances kept coming.

John McGinn was just inches from netting another stunning volley, though this time his effort from the edge of the box went thumping off the bar.

Moments later, the Scot would create the opener, sending in a delicious inswinger which Abraham glanced beyond Lumley.

Adomah, who was at the centre of much of Villa’s good work, sent a long distance over the bar soon after.

The visitors also began to get their chances. Freeman saw a close range effort blocked, while Eberechi Eze wastefully volleyed over from Pawel Wszolek’s cross.

Yet the leveller, when it arrived four minute before the break, was still something of a bolt from the blue, almost in a literal sense. Freeman ran on to the ball inside Villa’s half and from 25 yards out unleashed a stunning strike beyond Steer and into the top corner.

Villa might have restored their lead prior to the break but Kodjia, after latching on to a McGinn pass, was unable to get his shot on target.

Instead, after Lumley had received extensive treatment on a head injury after being caught by Kodjia, it was the visitors who would get the next goal 12 minutes into the second half.

Not for the first time at Villa Park in recent weeks, home supporters saw their team undone by a counter attack. Wszolek got away down the right and pulled the ball back for Eze, running unmarked into the box, to fire past Steer.

Smith wasted little time in making a change, introducing El Ghazi and Bolasie off the bench in place of Adomah and Kodjia.

Only a fine save from Lumley then prevented Abraham from levelling after the striker had glanced Hourihane’s whipped corner toward goal.

There was little the keeper could do 15 minutes from time, however, when Abraham did get his second.

El Ghazi was the creator, latching on to a pass and racing down the right flank before sending in a cross straight into the path of the striker, who stabbed the ball first time beyond Lumley and into the far corner.

With the Holte End roaring, Villa went in search of another. Bolasie fired wide after showing great skill to escape his marker, while Hourihane curled a free-kick on to the roof of the net.

The visitors weathered the storm and it required a fine one-handed save from Steer to prevent Eze putting the R’s back ahead, after the attacker had drilled in a low shot.

Bolasie headed over as the mammoth stoppage time began, while McGinn tested Lumley with a low drive. But there was to be no winner.

Teams

Villa (4-3-3): Steer, Bree, Elphick, Chester, Hutton, Bjarnason, Hourihane (Whelan 90), McGinn, Kodjia (El Ghazi 61), Abraham, Adomah (Bolasie 61) Subs not used: Elmohamady, Whelan, Davis, Hogan, Bunn (gk).

QPR (4-4-1-1): Lumley, Furlong, Leistner, Lynch, Bidwell, Wszolek (Osayi-Samuel 77), Cousins, Scowen, Freeman, Eze (Hall 90+6), Wells (Smith 71) Subs not used: Manning, Oteh, Chair, Ingram (gk).