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Aston Villa was limited to a scoreless draw by a determined Burnley despite dominating for long periods at Villa Park.
Both Villa and Burnley headed into the game after impressive wins away from home at the weekend at Wolverhampton Wanderers and Arsenal respectively.
However, the home team simply couldn’t find a way to get past a determined defense from Burnley, and especially their England goalkeeper Nick Pope.
Aston Villa was denied twice for carpentry against Burnley
Villa twice came close to making the breakthrough in the first half, only for Pope to direct Anwar El Ghazi’s curly free kick to the crossbar, before Kortney Hause headed off the wood from close range.
As a result, Dean Smith’s team remains 11th in the Premier League, while the visitors come out of the relegation zone at this point.
How Burnley got out of the drop zone
Villa dominated most of the game and will wonder how they didn’t finish with all three points. A combination of brilliant goalkeeping, poor shooting and a well-organized Burnley defensive line was the answer.
Aston Villa defender Tyrone Mings kneels before kick-off at Villa Park
Smith will no doubt point to two moments in the first half when his team came desperately close to opening the scoring, but luck was not on his side.
With eight minutes remaining until half-time, El Ghazi stepped forward to launch a 25-yard free throw over the wall and seemingly into the upper left corner of the net, only for Pope’s fingers to deflect the ball into goal. Pub.
Just before the break, after a right corner kick was thrown at the far post, Hause headed off the far post when the defender really should have scored.
Despite controlling most of the second period, the closest Villa came to scoring was when Tyrone Mings headed wide at the end, before Grealish fired a bit more after one of his solo runs.
Wasteful Villa – Opta Statistics
- Aston Villa recorded 27 shots against Burnley, the most of any team not scoring in a single Premier League game since Crystal Palace shot 31 against Cardiff in December 2018
- Burnley failed to score in an away league game against Aston Villa for the first time in eight attempts, with the last being left blank in November 1964 (0-1).
- In all competitions, Aston Villa has lost only one of its last nine games against Burnley (G4 D4)
- Since his debut in September 2017, Burnley’s Nick Pope has kept 31 clean sheets in the Premier League, the second most by an English goalkeeper, after Jordon Pickford (34).
- Anwar El Ghazi attempted eight shots against Burnley without scoring, the most by an Aston Villa player in a Premier League game since John Carew vs Reading in February 2008 (8 shots, 0 goals)
- Ben Mee has started a higher proportion of his Premier League appearances with Burnley (99% – 171/172) than any other Clarets outfield player in the competition’s history (minimum 60 applications)
- Of the six times a player has been fouled up to seven times in a Premier League match this season, half have been against Jack Grealish, including this match tonight (7)
What the managers said …
Dean Smith: “It was a performance that I expected from him [Jack Grealish]. A lot was done in the week he’s had but he was in court for two driving offenses, nothing more and nothing less and he handled it as he expected him to, with poise.
“Jack’s performances are what we’re used to. We had to make changes and with the way Burnley plays we had to be good defensively.
“I am very satisfied with the performance, there are many positives to take. We changed 40 percent of the team and our team was tested, but it came out with flying colors. It was a performance worthy of a win.”
“I’m not worried about (not scoring). My worry is when you don’t have a chance. We seem like a team with little chance of conceding goals too, when you do, you will accumulate points.”
0:38
Aston Villa boss Dean Smith says his team created enough opportunities to “win three games” as Burnley limited them to a 0-0 draw on Thursday.
Sean Dyche: “It wasn’t a great result, just a good result. We had to get back to being strong defensively and we did it.
“In the first half I thought we were in bright moments but we have to put order. We have to be more clinical and detailed because we have a base to work from now on.
“We have to make it happen instead of waiting for it to happen.
“We had a great result at Arsenal (winning 1-0 on Sunday), but getting the basics right has been important to us since we’ve been in the Premier League.
“Now we have to find the balance to open up the team enough to make sure we score more goals.”
0:25
Burnley manager Sean Dyche says he was pleased that his team followed up their victory at Arsenal with strong defensive display in a 0-0 draw at Aston Villa on Thursday.
Man of the Match – Jack Grealish
Jack Grealish produced a man of the match display against Burnley
Once again, the brilliant finger playmaker was easily the best player on the field and the only man who seemed capable of creating a goal, or scoring one at Villa Park.
The England international attempted several fascinating dribbles during the game, most of which attracted a group of defenders from Burnley.
But for once, either the Villa captain’s last ball missed him, or when he didn’t, the shot from his teammates did.
And then in the final moments, after another run and with only Pope to beat, he couldn’t keep his shot below the bar.
Whats Next?
Villa faces his Midlands rivals West Bromwich Albion at the Hawthorns on Sunday night (19:15), while Burnley faces the Wolves at Turf Moor on Monday (17:30) in a game that can be seen live. Sky Sports Premier League.
Monday, December 21 5:00 pm
Start 5:30 pm
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