da cassino： Aston Villa avoided a third consecutive defeat taking a well earned point back to the Midlands after holding Stoke to a grim goalless draw at the Britannia Stadium.
da pinnacle： Alex McLeish’s side had lost their last two against Liverpool and Arsenal but produced a stern performance against the Potters who failed to break down a resolute Villa defence. The hosts huffed and puffed for much of the 90 minutes as they looked to close the gap on the Premier League top seven but had to make do with a point in their Boxing Day fixture. They came the closest to breaking the deadlock through Marc Wilson who’s header it the bar whilst Nathan Delfouneso and Emile Heskey squandered chances for the visitors. However the Villa faithful will be happy to take home a point after winning just one of their last six league games. It put a six-point buffer between themselves and the relegation zone as they struggled in the final third without their main marksmen Darren Bent.
Defending hasn’t proved to be an issue this season with McLeish tightening up a back four that couldn’t stop conceding goals in the last campaign and they coped well with the home side’s aerial threat. Robert Huth header over early on as Ryan Shotton took over the long throw duties once again with Rory Delap on the bench. The visitors also had their chances as Heskey glancing a header wide of Thomas Sorensen’s goal with the former Villa goalkeeper largely untroubled in a first half that lacked any sort of goalmouth excitement. Stiliyan Petrov almost provided some respite to the sloppy passing that plagued both sides but could only lash his effort into the side netting.
Villa also went close just after the break with substitute Delfouneso almost getting a touch to Gabriel Agbonlahor’s low cross only to be denied by Sorensen before Charlies N’Zogbia saw his strike whistle just wide of the post. The Potters continued their search for an opener using the aerial route and Huth once again was the target but once again couldn’t beat Brad Guzan. Their best chance of the game fell to Wilson who powered a header at goal only for the bar and then Agbonlahor’s chest stopping the ball from crossing the line. N’Zogbia then saw his low free kick spilled by Sorensen but without Bent poaching there was no one to capitalise on the Dane’s mistake as the game ended goalless.
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