Douglas Luiz felt Aston Villa had their moments in the Boxing Day clash against Chelsea at Villa Park.
The Brazilian midfielder was encouraged by his team’s first half performance as they took the lead through Matt Targett’s deflected cross.
A penalty shortly after got the visitors back into the match and Luiz felt that was a defining moment in the encounter.
He said: “It was a difficult game, but I think the turning point was the penalty – that’s when the game completely changed.
“We played well, we worked hard and we can take a lot of positives. We had good moments in the game, but ultimately it was two penalties that caused us defeat today.
“We know they’re a really competitive team and we know that they have a lot of quality, they have attacking quality, but we have our quality as well.
“Unfortunately today, we weren’t able to get the three points.”
With the team’s next game against Leeds United postponed, the Chelsea loss closed out 2021.
And ahead of the New Year, Luiz feels the club is moving in a positive direction.
He said: “I think we’re in a really good position right now, and the fans can see that, the team can see that.
“We’ve come up against big teams this season and we’ve shown that we can perform against them.”
