BURNLEY, England, May 10 (Reuters) - Aston Villa's rocky form in the Premier League continued on Sunday with a 2-2 draw away to already-relegated Burnley that leaves them clinging on to the fifth Champions League place with Bournemouth breathing down their necks.
Unai Emery's side are on 59 points, behind fourth-placed Liverpool on goal difference and four ahead of Bournemouth with two games left to play.
However, they have only taken one point out of a possible nine and their two remaining fixtures are against Liverpool on Friday and title-chasing Manchester City the following week.
Bournemouth look to have a slightly easier run-in, facing City away on May 19 before closing out their campaignagainst Nottingham Forest, who are 15th, on the final day. Both Bournemouth and Villa have a goal difference of plus four.
Villa went behind to an early Jaidon Anthony goal, but Ross Barkley had them level by halftime and Ollie Watkins gave them the lead 11 minutes after the break to put them back in the driving seat.
That should have been the job done, but Burnley levelled through Zian Flemming and both sides had plenty of chances but failed to score for the remainder of an entertaining game.
Goal-scorer Watkins put a positive spin on the result, despite his side dropping two points.
"It was a really tough game, and you've seen in recent weeks that they have become stronger. Manchester City only won 1-0 here. It was a valuable point after going behind, but it's disappointing that we got in front and let it slip away," he told Sky Sports.
"It's a good point. If you can't win then don't lose. We've got Liverpool at Villa Park next, and we always make it difficult for them."
For Flemming and Burnley, it was a case of trying to close out the season as positively as possible.
"We've lost lots of games this season, especially at home, we haven't given the fans the results they wanted to see. We've played many games similar to this but have just lacked that final bit to get a result, never through a lack of effort or quality," Flemming said.
"However frustrating it is for the fans, we wished we could give them something to cheer for."
(Reporting by Philip O'ConnorEditing by Christian Radnedge)
