Aston Villa 0 West Ham United 0:Aston Villa failed to cash in on slip-ups by their Champions League chasing rivals as West Ham earned a shock share of the spoils to move out of the Premier League bottom three.
Villa could have closed the gap on the top four after Manchester City — beaten at Everton — and Tottenham, held at home by Hull, both dropped points yesterday.
But a combination of a below-par performance and some fine saves by Robert Green meant they had to settle for their first goalless draw of the campaign in the top flight.
It means the Carling Cup semi-finalists have taken only one point from the last nine.
There was a lack of inspiration about Villa’s play in the opening quarter of the game but Green was tested for the first time after 26 minutes.
Emile Heskey found Ashley Young in space on the left and he cut inside and saw his cross-shot heading for the top corner before it was fingertipped away at full stretch by Green
The England keeper then excelled himself in turning aside a fierce Gabby Agbonlahor shot on the turn from 15-yards out as Villa finally came to life.
Green also did well to cling onto a teasing cross from overlapping left-back Stephen Warnock as Heskey challenged inside the six-yard box.
O’Neill would have demanded a vast improvement from his side and they started the second half on the offensive. James Collins failed to make full contact on a Young corner with his glancing header, but the woodwork came to West Ham’s rescue after 49 minutes.
Heskey teed up a shooting opportunity for Milner on the edge of the box and his drive beat the dive of Green but clipped the outside of a post.
Dunne failed by inches to get on the end of a Young free-kick as the pressure started to mount on the Hammers goal and Carlos Cuellar fizzed a first-time drive over the bar from Milner’s fiercely driven cross.
Carew had the ball in the net after 61 minutes but it was ruled out for offside. Then Agbonlahor was just too high from 12 yards out when he should have at least hit the target.
Former Hammers defender Collins was fortunate to slice a cross from Stanislas over his own crossbar. Green then made a hash of a clearance under pressure from Carew but Agbonlahor opted not to shoot with the goal gaping and his cross was cut out.
Collison was yellow carded for a foul on Petrov as Villa pressed for the winner. Then Petrov and Stanislas squared up to each other as tempers became frayed and both were yellow carded.
West Ham captain Matthew Upson believes his side are on an upward trend after today's result.
“Away from home it’s a good result,” Upson said. “We’re improving. We’ve had some really tight games against some top teams. We set out well today. The last few months we’ve had an improvement. Hopefully we can maintain that to the end of the season.”
Fellow defender James Tomkins was given the man-of-the-match award for his performance, and he was satisfied with his afternoon’s work.
“A team like Villa, you have to keep them quiet in the first half,” he said. “We had a few chances at the end, maybe could have stolen it, but overall we’re happy.”