Villa and Newcastle play out scoreless draw

Aston Villa 0 Newcastle United 0

Ten-man Newcastle registered their first point of the new Premier League season after fighting out a disappointing 0-0 draw with Aston Villa.

The game at Villa Park was one of few real chances, particularly in the first half, with Magpies midfielder Remy Cabella sending one wide when he might have done better. The visitors had further opportunities just after the break, with Daryl Janmaat having a header pushed over by Villa goalkeeper Brad Guzan and firing a shot just off-target.

Magpies substitute and debutant Siem de Jong was then denied by a decent Guzan save towards the end, before Mike Williamson was sent off in the dying seconds having collected two yellow cards in quick succession.

While Newcastle boss Alan Pardew took some comfort from the performance and outcome — which halted the Tyneside outfit's five-game away losing streak from the end of last season — there was little to cheer Villa manager Paul Lambert after an opening day win away to Stoke, his side rarely threatening.

Pardew felt his team should have got more than a point .

“I thought we had really good control of the game - particularly in the second half. We absolutely dominated, but couldn’t find the moment. When you get a lot of new offensive players, they’re so keen to do well. You could almost see Remy (Cabella) trying too hard to force the moment. You can’t really do that in football — you have to let the moment come to you.

“I’m pleased with the team. I think there’s a good solid base to it. We know we need to threaten with goals and that will win us games. There were a lot of good signs again, but we haven’t scored yet and that will be hanging on us.”

On whether he planned much transfer activity before the window closes on September 1st, he added: “We’ve got our finger on the pulse, as we’ve shown all summer. Whether we can get another body in or even two before the window shuts, I don’t know, but I think there will be some movement — maybe one or two going out as well. We’ll see.”

Lambert disagreed with the Newcastle manager’s assessment.

“I thought first half we were excellent,” he said on BT Sport 1. “We had some great chances. I thought we shaded the first half. Newastle had a chance towards the end. That’s a game last year we would have lost. Two clean sheets from two games, four points from two games is a terrific start from us.”

Lambert reserved particular praise for man of the match Alan Hutton, saying of the Scotland full-back: “He’s been excellent. Even when he was out of the side, he was never one bit of a problem — he was always professional. He’s getting the rewards and I thought his general game today was outstanding.”

Hutton urged his team to build on their positive start to the campaign.

“It’s sky high at the moment,” he said of the confidence in the Villa dressing room. “A lot of people wrote us off at the start of the season, but we’ve put in some good performances and hopefully we can build on that.

“I think it’s a fair result. It’s good to get the point and another clean sheet on the board “They’re a good team, with good forward-thinking players, but we stood up and were strong and it’s a good clean sheet.”