Cresswell could have won it for the home side six minutes from the end but he hesitated, allowing Micah Hyde to dispossess him despite having the goal at his mercy after Chamberlain had pushed out Fuller's stinging shot.
Carew's power up front had looked the likeliest route to success for Villa with Sylvain Distin and Jagielka struggling to dispossess the targetman, but it was his strike partner who levelled with a deft flick from Milner's pinpoint cross.