Aston Villa twice came from behind in a thrilling Premier League contest against Crystal Palace to earn a draw and ended their losing run.

Palace had won just one of their opening 11 games this season but took an early lead when Ismaila Sarr raced on to Jean-Philippe Mateta’s pass and slotted past Emiliano Martinez.

Villa began to grow into the game and equalised 30 minutes later through Ollie Watkins, who rounded Dean Henderson and passed into an empty net to end his five-game goal drought.

Unai Emery’s side were buoyed by the goal and were soon awarded a penalty when Will Hughes fouled Leon Bailey, but Youri Tielemans’ spot-kick was superbly saved by Henderson.

Palace retook the lead 57 seconds later when 21-year-old Justin Devenny, making his second senior appearance for the club, converted Sarr’s cross to finish a swift counter-attack.

Henderson and Maxence Lacroix produced several key interventions to preserve the away side’s lead, but neither could do anything to stop Ross Barkley heading in from a corner with just over 10 minutes left.

The game became end-to-end in the closing stages with Villa piling on the pressure, but there was no repeat of Jhon Duran’s goals from the bench.

Palace maintained their threat on the break and Martinez made a fine save to deny Palace substitute Jeffrey Schlupp, before Jefferson Lerma fired a long-range effort narrowly wide.

Though Villa avoided a fifth consecutive defeat in all competitions, Emery’s side are now winless in their past six.

A point moves Villa up to seventh in the Premier League table, while Palace remain in the relegation zone in 18th.

Meanwhile, arsenal got their title challenge back on track by beating Nottingham Forest to secure a first win in five Premier League matches.

The Gunners’ form has dipped in recent weeks amid a tough fixture schedule and a number of injuries, which meant Mikel Arteta’s side were nine points behind leaders Liverpool before kick-off on Saturday.

Arsenal dominated from the outset at Emirates Stadium and Bukayo Saka gave them the lead after 15 minutes, exchanging passes with Martin Odegaard before beating two defenders and slamming a strike into the top corner.

Thomas Partey, who came on as a half-time substitute, doubled the hosts’ lead when he curled in from 20 yards, before youngster Ethan Nwaneri added a third late on to secure the win.

Forest have been the surprise package of the season so far and came into this match with the same number of points (19) as the Gunners.

However, they struggled to get a foothold in the game and failed to muster a shot on target – with tame headers from Ryan Yates and Nicolas Dominguez their best opportunities.

Arsenal defender Jurrien Timber thought he had put the hosts in front when he tapped in from close range before Saka’s opener, but Mikel Merino was offside in the build-up.

This match was Arteta’s 250th in charge of Arsenal in all competitions – and he will hope victory sparks a run of form that will help his side close the gap on their rivals at the top.