Premier League: Stoke City 0 Aston Villa 0

Stoke City and Aston Villa played out a dour but willing 0-0 draw in their English Premier League encounter on Monday.

Both sides went close to breaking the deadlock but had to be content with a share of the spoils at the Britannia Stadium, with chances few in a first half which would have done little to excite the 27,739 in attendance.

Villa went into the match again without injured striker Darren Bent, though Emile Heskey returned after missing the 2-1 defeat to Arsenal on December 21.

For Stoke, Kenwyne Jones was preferred as Tony Pulis’ targetman, despite the return to fitness of Peter Crouch, who was chasing his 100th career league goal and would have been keen on starting against his former club.

It was Heskey who had the chance of note in the first half, smacking his header against the near-post after making good connection with Charles N’Zogbia’s corner on 21 minutes.

Brad Guzan was called upon at the other end when he got down smartly to smother the ball before Jones could pull the trigger.

Heskey was replaced by young forward Nathan Delfouneso after experiencing Achilles pain, and the 20-year-old went close for Villa eight minutes after the re-start when the lively Gabriel Agbonlahor cut back to a dangerous position in the area.

Delfouneso made reasonable contact but could not beat Stoke goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen, who made himself big to keep his former club from breaking the deadlock.

Robert Huth headed wide for Stoke shortly after the hour mark as they upped their attacking intent, while Villa winger N’Zogbia rounded makeshift Stoke right-back Jon Woodgate with ease but fired his right-foot shot into the side netting.

Stoke nearly pinched the win on 69 minutes after Mark Wilson’s powerful header from a Matthew Etherington corner needed a goal-line clearance from Agbonlahor, but the two sides could not be split when referee Mark Clattenburg called time just over 20 minutes later.

The result leaves Stoke eighth on the table, while Aston Villa stay 12th.