Aston Villa 0 Portsmouth 0: David James created history as his fine display earned Portsmouth a valuable point in their quest to qualify for Europe.

The former England goalkeeper set a new record of Premiership clean sheets - 142 - and surpassed the previous record holder David Seaman.

James made several important saves, most notably from Craig Gardner in the first half, as Pompey climbed above Tottenham into eighth spot.

Villa, brimming with confidence after taking nine points from the previous five games, dominated for long periods.

Patrik Berger pulled the strings in midfield after recovering from his hamstring injury where youngster Gardner again impressed.

And up front there were encouraging signs the new John Carew-Gabriel Agbonlahor partnership could blossom.

But their Achilles heel all season has been a failure to put their chances away and they could not break down the Pompey rearguard which managed to keep only its third clean sheet in the last 18 games.