Unai Emery praised Aston Villa for showing the spirit needed to produce a comeback against Brentford on Saturday.
Douglas Luiz led a late fightback that extended the team’s unbeaten run to nine matches, equalising with three minutes remaining.
Villa’s head coach was left in a positive mood after the game.
He said: “It was a very good draw.
“We are very happy with the result. Of course, we wanted to win but we didn’t deserve to win.
“Here, it’s a very difficult team to face and to try to control the game like we have been doing. Away, we have been very competitive and winning and drawing, like in West Ham.
“Today we struggled like we thought could happen, but not like we did in the second half for more than 20, 25 minutes. The reaction was very good and it was a very good point.
“This point can be a good point, trying to keep distance with Brentford in the table.”
Emery highlighted the Bees’ fine home form and strong defensive structure before the game, and he got the hard-fought match he expected.
Coming back to take a point keeps Villa firmly in the hunt for a European place ahead of Tuesday’s home game against Fulham.
“It was very difficult against this team after going behind 1-0 because they’re very strong defensively,” he said.
“We did it and I was very happy because the players showed our spirit. They tried to occupy spaces better higher up and get more players in the box.
“Before the match, we were preparing it. But we didn’t want to happen on the pitch because in that situation we were losing and at the end trying to win the match.
“It happened and it was a very good reaction from the players.”