Aston Villa missed the chance to close on the top four after being held to a goalless draw by West Ham.

Defences come out on top in Villa Park stalemate

Aston Villa missed the chance to close on the Premier League's top four on Sunday after being held to a goalless draw by struggling West Ham, who move out of the relegation zone on the back of a battling point. The Hammers set out their stall with the intention of keeping things tight, deploying Frank Nouble as a lone frontman. Villa struggled to break down the visitors' resolute rearguard and a spinning snap-shot from Gabriel Agbonlahor, which was beaten away by Robert Green, was as close as either side came during a quiet opening 45 minutes. The second period produced slightly more in terms of attacking endeavour, but chances remained at a premium. John Carew did have the ball in the net at one stage, but he was adjudged to have strayed offside before bundling home. Agbonlahor also came close once more, but he fired high over the top when found in acres of space by Stewart Downing.

Responsibility

West Ham were unable to field a single experienced striker because of injuries to Carlton Cole, Zavon Hines and Guillermo Franco, and 18-year-old Nouble was left to shoulder the goalscoring responsibilities on his first Premier League start. And Nouble came close to breaking the deadlock after six minutes. He burst forward from the halfway line and shook off the challenges of Villa centre-backs James Collins and Richard Dunne to find himself with only Brad Friedel to beat. But, having done all the hard work, he then unleashed a shot from 12 yards out which ended up in the Holte End. Hammers midfielder Radoslav Kovac became the first player to be yellow carded after 17 minutes for a challenge on Emile Heskey 20 yards out. 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. 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 Agbonlahor shot on the turn from 15-yards out as Villa finally came to life.

Teasing

Green also did well to cling onto a teasing cross from overlapping left-back Stephen Warnock as Heskey challenged inside the six-yard box. Heskey sent a volley wide of Green's right-hand post which he only half connected with from a Young cross but Villa were still guilty of too many misplaced passes before the interval. O'Neill would have demanded a vast improvement from his side and they started the second half on the offensive. 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. Both sides made a substitution after 56 minutes with Heskey replaced by Carew and Parker, who looked to have suffered a recurrence of his hamstring injury, making way for Alessandro Diamanti.

Fortunate

Kovac was fortunate not to receive a second yellow card for a challenge on Villa skipper