Aston Villa 1 Sheff Utd 1: Zaniolo denies Blades massive win deep into injury time as Villa miss golden chance to go top

CAMERON ARCHER was on the verge of forever being remembered by Aston Villa fans as the Grinch who stole Christmas.

Until Nicolo Zaniolo salvaged a precious point for Villa with his first ever Premier League goal – EIGHT minutes into stoppage time.

GettyNicolo Zaniolo scored a late leveller for Aston Villa[/caption]

The former Villa Academy kid, who joined the club when he was eight, returned to haunt his old club four months after they sold him to the Blades for a bargain £18million.

Blades fans thought his late strike had ended his old club’s dreams of spending Christmas on top of the table as he lifted Sheffield United off the foot of the Premier League.

But Zaniolo had other ideas as he beat Wes Foderingham to a Douglas Luiz cross to head home into an unguarded net.

That last gasp leveller was just enough to take Villa level on points with Arsenal at the top of the table.

But the win they wanted to grab top spot just eluded the home side.

Take a bow Chris Wilder.

Not content with ending Villa’s record-breaking 15-match winning streak of home victories.

Wilder also slayed their hopes of topping the Premier League this Christmas with one of the shock results of the season.

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Despite that late sucker punch Blades fans will look back fondly at this Miracle on Trinity Road on a night when they thought all their Christmases had come at once.

Not even the most optimistic Blades fan would have expected to take an early Chrissie pressie from Villa Park.

But they wrecked the home side’s party plans and ruined their dream of topping the top flight at this stage of a season for the first time since January 1999 under John Gregory.

On the face of it this match was a massive mismatch.

While Villa were aiming for their 16th successive home win on the spin, United were the only team without an away win in the Premier League this season.

What’s more the Blades had leaked 43 goals this season – more than any other club in Europe’s top five leagues.

That was reflected by the bookies who gave odds of 16/1 on a Sheff United win.

However Wilder is a shrewd operator who knows his way around the Premier League and set out his stall pretty much to perfection to frustrate the life out of Emery’s men.

ReutersSheffield United’s Cameron Archer opened the scoring[/caption]

GettyArcher celebrating the shock opener[/caption]

Three central defenders sat in behind three central midfielders to stifle the space Villa’s midfielders love to exploit in the centre of the pitch.

When they tried to go wide to Leon Bailey and Jacob Ramsey, full-backs Jayden Bogle and Yasser Larouci had set up roadblocks to halt them.

So despite Villa enjoying 78 percent of possession Wes Foderingham was rarely troubled behind his solid Blades brick wall.

Villa started brightly enough and Auston Trusty lived dangerously with an early foul on Moussa Diaby which was centimetres away from the line of his box.

A fraction more and Villa would have had an early penalty but instead Lucas Digne fired the resultant free kick over.

The home side then had strong claims for a penalty turned down following the first of three VAR checks.

Vinicius Souza risked conceding a penalty when he clearly used both hands to shove Watkins in the back as the striker shaed up to head Digne’s cross in at the back stick.

However ref Anthony Taylor failed to spot the offence and VAR decided that wasn’t a sufficiently big blunder to punish Souza.

But the man-handling in the box continued and the Blades survived two more VAR checks for a foul on Ezri Konsa, then a handball from a Watkins header, neither of which was given.

Yet apart from a Diaby snapshot which Wes Foderingham saved low down, Villa failed to create any clear cut chances until the half hour.

That’s when Clement Lenglet nodded a McGinn corner into Ramsey’s path but the midfielder fired over.

There was further frustration for Villa on the hour mark when the Holte End went berserk as they celebrated finally making the breakthrough – only for VAR to deny them for a FOURTH TIME.

Foderingham failed to connect, attempting to punch clear a corner and Ollie Watkins robbed a dithering George Baldock to set up Bailey who rammed the ball into the gaping net.

However VAR invited Taylor to have another look and the ref agreed Jacob Ramsey had grabbed Foderingham’s arm to prevent him punching clear, to the fury of the home support and Emery.

ReutersNicolo Zaniolo nicked a late equaliser[/caption]

He spared Villa’s blushesRex

Incredibly the Blades survived a FIFTH VAR check for a penalty when Bladock appeared to use an arm to clear the ball under pressure from Ramsey.

But once again Villa Park was filled by howls of anger and anguish.

Emery sent on Alex Moreno and Jhon Duran but it was the Blades who suddenly sparked into life.

Ollie Norwood fired in their first shot on target after 78 minutes to force Emi Martinez into a spectacular mid-air clutching save.

Then Konsa almost sliced a Max Lowe cross past Martinez and was relieved to see the ball drift inches wide, before Norwood fired over.

Villa were rattled and Duran survived a red card check for violent conduct following an angry clash with Souza.

And incredibly the Blades had the last say in this amazing game.

Gustavo Hamer sprang Villa’s famed offside trap and sat John McGinn on his backside before flipping the ball to Cameron Archer.

And the former Villa striker – back at Villa Park for the first time – tucked the ball beyond Martinez from close range to send Blades fans wild.

However their joy was short-lived as Zaniolo came off the bench to salvage a dramatic last gasp point for Villa.

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