Aston Villa failed to climb to third as Fulham extended their unbeaten run to four games with a 0-0 draw.
Disciplined Cottagers frustrate O'Neill's charges
Aston Villa failed to climb to third in the table as Fulham extended their unbeaten run to four Premier League games with a hard-fought 0-0 draw at Villa Park.
Success for Martin O'Neill's side would have lifted them above Manchester United for at least 24 hours, but they were guilty of missing decent goalscoring opportunities.
Gareth Barry and Steve Sidwell both went close with their heads in the first half, while the former saw an effort diverted onto the woodwork by Cottagers goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer after the interval.
Fulham's chances were few and far between and, despite Ashley Young proving a constant menace, they hung on for a valuable away point to frustrate the home supporters.
Clumsy
Cottagers midfielder Clint Dempsey was booked after only three minutes for a clumsy challenge on Barry.
Young briefly brought the crowd to life after he collected a long pass from Stiliyan Petrov. He cut in from the left but his eventual low shot was dragged into the side-netting.
Villa started to come to life and Barry missed the first decent chance of the game after 24 minutes.
Young was the creator with an inswinging cross which was met by the England midfielder at the far post but he directed his header just wide.
Another cross from Young picked out Petrov but he got too much height on his glancing header.
Young had a half-chance when Gabriel Agbonlahor squared the ball to him on the edge of the box but he summed up proceedings by shooting high over Schwarzer's goal.
Sidwell was guilty of a glaring miss after 39 minutes when it looked easier to score.
Young arrowed in a free-kick from 30 yards out and Sidwell timed his run perfectly to find himself unmarked six yards out but he headed over when he needed only the deftest of touches.
Villa goalkeeper Brad Friedel was called into meaningful action for the first time two minutes later to tip over a 20-yarder from Dempsey.
Scuff
O'Neill would have wanted a positive response from his side after they seldom moved out of second gear in the first half.
But Young would have been disappointed to scuff his shot wide after a centre from James Milner had only been half-cleared.
Milner started to see more of the ball but screwed his shot from the edge of the Fulham box well wide.
Petrov and Luke Young had shots deflected wide during a spell of four successive corners from Villa.
Schwarzer came to Fulham's rescue when he tipped a close-range header from Barry onto the crossbar from another dangerous Ashley Young free-kick.
Then Friedel did well to beat out a fierce angled drive from Simon Davies at the expense of a corner.
Barry missed another good chance when he headed across the goal when unmarked from an Ashley Young free-kick.
| Aston Villa |
Team Statistics |
Fulham |
| 0 |
Goals |
0 |
| 0 |
1st Half Goals |
0 |
| 2 |
Shots on Target |
2 |
| 12 |
Shots off Target |
3 |
| 2 |
Blocked Shots |
1 |
| 11 |
Corners |
4 |
| 11 |
Fouls |
17 |
| 3 |
Offsides |
2 |
| 0 |
Yellow Cards |
2 |
| 0 |
Red Cards |
0 |
| 74.8 |
Passing Success |
71.6 |
| 18 |
Tackles |
20 |
| 66.7 |
Tackles Success |
75 |
| 46.6 |
Possession |
53.4 |
| 57.9 |
Territorial Advantage |
42.1 |
|
