Aston Villa's bid to land a Champions League place suffered a blow as they were held to a 0-0 draw at Stoke on Saturday.

Martin O'Neill's team are six points behind fourth placed Tottenham after a dour battle at the Britannia Stadium which featured few clear chances for either side.

Villa have two games in hand on their rivals for the final Champions League spot but their failure to take all three points from Stoke has kept them in seventh place.

After a lacklustre opening from Villa, the visitors finally showed signs of finding some momentum as James Collins' glancing header flew wide of the far post from Stewart Downing's cross.

It was midway through the first half before Villa tested Stoke goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen when Stiliyan Petrov's low drive from outside the penalty area was pushed away by the Dane.

James Milner drove a shot over the crossbar after Downing threaded a pass into the penalty area.

Downing came closest in the first half when his powerful shot deflected off John Carew and into the side-netting with Sorensen unable to get across in time.

Stoke boss Tony Pulis sent on strikers Ricardo Fuller and Dave Kitson in the second half in a bid to spark his side into life.

Fuller had an immediate impact as he surged away from three Villa defenders and into the penalty area, but his shot didn't match the quality of the run and Brad Friedel saved easily.

The lack of quality was highlighted by Downing who seemed surprised when Stephen Warnock's left-wing cross reached him at the far post and his first touch bounced away.

Fuller's cross-shot from the left had Brad Friedel at full-stretch to tip it away from the run of Glen Whelan as Stoke upped the tempo in the last quarter of the match.

Stoke continued to press and Warnock's diving tackle denied Danny Higginbotham from a narrow angle.

Robert Huth could have won it for Stoke in the final minute but headed Etherington's corner over.

AFP

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