Lamptey rescues point for Brighton at Aston Villa

Brighton & Hove Albion's Tariq Lamptey drove home a late equaliser to earn his side a point in a lively 2-2 draw at Aston Villa in the Premier League on Monday.

Villa had come from behind to lead with an Ollie Watkins penalty and a Morgan Rogers effort just after the interval but Brighton deservedly left with a share of the spoils.

Lamptey was played in by Joao Pedro's clever flick and volleyed home first-time in the 81st minute.

Villa remained in ninth place with 29 points from 19 games with Brighton's second draw of the festive period leaving them two points behind in 10th spot.

Both sides will enter the new year with aspirations of qualifying for Europe and there was plenty of evidence to suggest both could realise that ambition in 2025.

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A game of 33 goal attempts was great viewing and a point apiece was about right in the end, even if both managers will feel they could have bagged all three points.

"We reacted and came back with 2-1. I have to accept it but I am a little bit frustrated with it. The table is very tight but we are in the race for the second part of the season," Villa manager Unai Emery said.

"We are ninth in the table and we have to try to start again against Leicester (City)."

Brighton went ahead in the 12th minute when Lewis Dunk launched a pass forward and Joao Pedro did well to knock the ball into the path of Simon Adingra who curled home a beauty.

Villa then had two penalty appeals in quick succession analysed by VAR. The first was when Rogers weaved his way into the area and fell under a challenge by Jan Paul van Hecke with the defender just getting enough of the ball to escape trouble.

Minutes later Villa were appealing for a penalty again as Rogers again went down in the area, this time after a stretching tackle by Joao Pedro. This time referee Craig Pawson, after a lengthy stare at the pitch-side monitor, awarded a penalty and Watkins thumped in the equaliser.

Two minutes after the restart, Villa went ahead as Watkins dinked a superb pass towards Rogers who dispatched a superb shot past Brighton keeper Bart Verbruggen.

Villa appeared to be edging towards a victory that would have put them seventh but Lamptey had other ideas.

"We were the better team. We dominated 20-25 minutes of the game and then we conceded a goal. It doesn't make sense for me. We struggled a little bit but I think we deserved to win," Brighton boss Fabian Huerzeler said.