Tottenham 0 Villa 0
Villa kept themselves in the hunt for a Champions League spot with a hard-fought draw against top-four rivals Tottenham.
Villa kept themselves in the hunt for a Champions League spot with a hard-fought draw against top-four rivals Tottenham.
The claret and blues withstood a barrage of pressure from the home side with Tom Huddlestone, Jermain Defoe and Peter Crouch all coming close, but ultimately their superbly-drilled defence succeeded in shutting them out.
Villa did create opportunities themselves with Gabby Agbonlahor and John Carew both testing goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes but, having been on the back foot for much of the match, they will have been the happier of the two sides to leave with a point.
Liverpool's win at Everton means they were the real winners of the day, with their victory enough to leave them in the golden fourth spot.
Villa boss Martin O'Neill stuck with the same side which defeated Fulham last weekend, with the fit-again John Carew returning to the bench.
The first chance of the game fell to Spurs on three when ex-Villan Crouch's knockdown gave Luka Modric a clear sight of goal but the Croatia star's shot was tame, leaving goalkeeper Brad Friedel with a simple save.
Harry Redknapp's men dominated the early proceedings and came close six minutes later when David Bentley got the better of Luke Young out wide, only to drill a low 20-yard shot just past the post.
Another opportunity went begging on 14 minutes when Bentley picked out the unmarked Ledley King from a corner, however the Spurs skipper headed straight into Friedel's arms.
Three minutes later, the veteran American came to Villa's rescue, dashing off his line to deny Crouch after the England forward had been sent through by Modric's cheeky nutmeg.
Emile Heskey was forced off with an injury on 21 minutes to be replaced by Carew, but it made little difference as Spurs peppered the goal with shots.
Two minutes later a Huddlestone piledriver was palmed away by Friedel and the outstanding Carlos Cuellar managed to scramble the ball to safety before Modric could reach it.
Villa's best chance of the half came on 27 minutes when Gomes failed to hold onto James Milner's sweetly struck shot, but the Spurs goalkeeper redeemed himself by smothering the follow-up from Agbonlahor.
O'Neill's side survived another major scare four minutes before the break, when it took a world-class save from Friedel to keep out King's flicked effort and Defoe was unable to convert the rebound from a tight angle.
The second-half was more evenly contested but again Spurs had the better of the chances.
Friedel made another fine save to push away a Huddlestone piledriver, while down the other end Carew rolled his man to latch onto Cuellar's lofted pass only to fire straight at Gomes.
Spurs began to crank up the pressure in the closing stages and twice came inches away from snatching the points via Crouch.
First the giant striker's deflected shot looped agonisingly beyond Friedel's goal, after Richard Dunne had made a stunning challenge on Defoe.
There was still time for one last heart-stopping moment at the death when the ball fell to the England striker in the six-yard area, only for his flicked attempt to roll just past the post.
