Crystal Palace frustrated Aston Villa yet again as a scrappy 0-0 draw unfolded at Selhurst Park.
Oliver Glasner's side are now unbeaten in their last seven meetings with Villa, winning five of these fixtures, but their own winless run extends to eight games across all competitions.
Both sides had chances to win the fixture, albeit they were few and far between. Brennan Johnson came close to marking his home debut at Selhurst Park with a goal but Emiliano Martinez's tipped save ensured the scoreline remained level.
Ollie Watkins would suffer the same fate with one effort smothered by Dean Henderson and a late header grazing the outside of the post.
Villa looked better but fell off as time went on, while Palace pushed on in search of their opener but fell short.
"Game of two halves, I think," said Villa centre-back Ezri Konsa as both he and England team-mate Marc Guehi impressed on the evening, knowing Thomas Tuchel was in the stands watching on.
"I thought the first half we dominated - kept the ball well and created a couple of chances. The second half they applied more pressure and created some chances themselves."
A point was a fair result on an evening that lacked quality in the final third. Palace were without 10 first-team players for this outing and will likely walk away with their heads held high, given the lack of depth and recent struggles, while the same cannot be said for their opponents.
A lacklustre showing from Villa, who had the chance to move above of Manchester City in second following their 1-1 draw with Brighton, will leave a bitter taste in the mouth of Unai Emery, who is yet to beat Glasner and was animated at full-time before storming down the tunnel.
The Villa boss later confirmed that the disagreement with match officials was due to VAR failing to look at a late penalty shout for Villa after Youri Tielemans was held in the area from a corner.
The only VAR check of the game arrived in the second half when Johnson went down in the area from Victor Lindelof's challenge.
"I don't know who is in the VAR, but if they checked Brennan Johnson's possible penalty, which was clear for me, then Tielemans' possible penalty in the corner should have been checked," he said.
"He was being held for one, two, three seconds. I think this is the action."
Aston Villa boss Unai Emery speaking to Your Site:
"We dominated the first half and had control of the game, with possession and time to get our good positioning and through passes to create chances.
"We didn't create a lot but enough to score one goal and we didn't give them a lot of chances. They only had one transition and one good chance, but we saved it.
"In the second half we started well but they were pushing us and creating more chances in our box. Not clear chances, but we needed to react and the players reacted in the last 15 minutes to try and get the win.
"I think in the last 10 minutes we had chances to win the match. One point is something that can give us confidence to keep going."
Crystal Palace boss Oliver Glasner speaking to Your Site:
"The game could have gone either way - it was a match where both teams had two or three chances where they could have scored.
"At the end a point is deserved for both teams. Huge credit to our players, to our team and how they played.
"You could see first half that we're not full of confidence right now but this happens when you don't get the results. We always stick together and then created our situations, so I'm really proud of the team and a very good point today."
Crystal Palace captain Marc Guehi speaking to Your Site:
"I'm proud of the team today. We know that they like to play in the pockets a lot, so it was important that we shut the middle and showed them the outside.
"It's not always easy, but everyone worked hard and we had chances for ourselves on the break. On another day, they go in.
"It's a vital point - it's really important. The league's so tough this year, so any point is valuable. A point tonight is good and hopefully we can build on it."
