Amid the drama of a thrilling title race and a nip-and-tuck relegation battle, it has been easy to forget that there is an equally competitive fight for fifth position, although such an oversight will have been corrected by the events at Goodison Park yesterday.

For all of 79 minutes it was a rather turgid affair, but no one had reckoned on a climax that, come the final whistle, had left just about everyone who witnessed it breathless, and Everton claiming a narrow advantage in pursuit of the one automatic Uefa Cup place offered by the Barclays Premier League. Twice Everton led, twice Aston Villa drew level and, with so little to separate the teams, it is with a degree of confidence that one can say that this contest will to go to the wire.

“Where do I start?” Martin O’Neill, the Villa manager, said when asked to summarise the match, and he had a point. Sporting a three-point lead over Villa with two games left, Everton are in the stronger position, although with Arsenal to play away on Sunday – Wigan Athletic visit Villa Park the day before – it would probably be no surprise to see both teams going into the final day of the season all square.

“This season we are the top goalscorers away from home in the league and I don’t think that can be a fluke,” O’Neill said. “The way we kept going in the last 15 or 20 minutes epitomised our efforts this season.”

Villa had recovered from losing positions either to draw or win on 13 previous occasions in the league this season, so while it was not a surprise to see them make a game of it late on, few could have envisaged such an entertaining end to a match that had struggled to get going.

With Villa trailing to Phil Neville’s goal shortly before the hour, O’Neill had sent on Patrik Berger and Marlon Harewood in the hope of forcing a breakthrough and the additional fire-power did the trick. With ten minutes remaining the imperious Gareth Barry whipped over a corner that missed everyone except Gabriel Agbonlahor, who stole an inch on his marker to scoop the ball with his right foot into the net.

The goal was the England Under-21 forward’s eleventh of an impressive season and provided the cue for a finale so frenetic that both managers appeared to age a few years under the strain of it all. Within four minutes Everton were back in front. David Moyes had responded to Villa’s resistance by introducing Victor Anichebe and, with both teams going hell for leather, the previously watertight defences began to leak.

Mikel Arteta, another substitute, squared for Lee Carsley, who caressed a first-time cross to the back post, where Joseph Yobo nipped in front of Nigel Reo-Coker to stroke the ball home past Scott Carson. “I’m glad my defenders are obliging because I can’t get my strikers to score at the moment,” Moyes said afterwards.

Villa, though, were not done. Willed on by Barry, who may become a permanent fixture on Merseyside if Liverpool wrestle the England midfield player from O’Neill’s grasp, the visiting team refused to lie down and got the second equaliser their efforts deserved. Barry clipped a delightful ball into the area that John Carew, a pillar of strength all afternoon, nodded across Tim Howard after outmuscling Joleon Lescott.

“Both teams have got players who can attack and create chances,” Barry said. “Coming from behind once is very good, but to do it twice is exceptional and we deserved the draw. There are a couple of teams behind us who probably wanted a draw here and it [the race for fifth] will probably go down to the wire now.”

The dramatic conclusion belied the cagey affair that preceded it. Villa probably shaded the first period and were unfortunate not to take the lead when Ashley Young rattled the bar with a 20-yard free kick, but with both teams reluctant to commit players forward it made for frustrating viewing. Neville’s goal injected a little urgency into proceedings, however. Manuel Fernandes released Yakubu Ayegbeni down the left channel. The Nigeria striker was enjoying one of his more prosperous afternoons, dragging defenders in all directions, but when he overhit his pullback from the byline, the chance appeared to have gone. Neville had other ideas, drilling the ball home courtesy of a deflection of Martin Laursen that left Carson no chance in the Villa goal. It was only the Everton captain’s third goal for the club and it showed as he ran the length of the pitch in celebration.

Everton have proved pretty impregnable when in front this season, but Villa are a different proposition to most when behind and so it proved, although Everton almost got a dramatic late winner when Yobo’s header was saved by a diving Carson.

“We were disappointed with the way we conceded but Villa have been steamrollering teams recently so we knew it was going to be difficult,” Carsley said.

The game ended on a sour note when Anichebe and Harewood clashed on the touchline, the Everton striker reacting angrily to the Villa forward throwing him to the ground, although there was always a danger of tempers flaring as passions ran high on the pitch.

“We are three points ahead and it will be tough but we are in a good position,” Moyes said. “The Uefa Cup means a lot here. We were unfortunate not to go further down that road this season and we want to go back there. I’m disappointed that we didn’t stay in front, but we knew it would be a hard game.”

How they rated

Everton (4-4-2): T Howard 6 P Neville 7 J Yobo 7 P Jagielka 6 J Lescott 5 M Fernandes 6 L Osman 6 L Carsley Y 6 S Pienaar 6 A Johnson 6 Yakubu Ayegbeni Y 8 Substitutes: M Arteta 7 (for Fernandes, 66min), V Anichebe Y (for Johnson, 83). Not used: S Wessels, A Hibbert, L Baines. Next: Arsenal (a).

Aston Villa (4-3-1-2): S Carson 6 O Mellberg 6 M Laursen 6 Z Knight 6 W Bouma 6 N Reo-Coker 6 S Petrov 6 G Barry 8 A Young Y 7 G Agbonlahor 6 J Carew 8 Substitutes: P Berger (for Knight, 76min), M Harewood Y (for Bouma, 78). Not used: S Taylor, M Salifou, W Routledge. Next: Wigan Athletic (h).