Arsenal adrift after Villa draw

Freddie Ljungberg (R) of Arsenal challenges Eirik Bakke (L) of Aston Villa during the Premiership football match at Villa Park in Birmingham. Villa and Arsenal shared the spoils in a 0-0 draw that did nothing to help either side's aspirations.

Aston Villa and Arsenal have shared the spoils in a 0-0 draw at Villa Park that did nothing to help either side's aspirations.

Villa's David O'Leary, the former Arsenal centre-half, will have been the happier of the two managers as his team dominated throughout but the solitary point still leaves his charges facing a relegation battle in the New Year.

For Arsenal, it was another two points dropped away from home leaving them four points shy of the final Champions League place and a massive 22 points behind leaders and champions Chelsea at the turn of the year.

Villa had much the better of the opening half although it was Arsenal who fashioned the best chance and should have gone into the break in front on 38 minutes.

After a sweeping passing move that had the hosts chasing shadows, Belarus international Aleksander Hleb fed Mathieu Flamini who strode unchecked into the Villa box.

With time to spare and options aplenty, Flamini lost his bottle and blazed the ball over the bar.

Before that all the pressure was coming from the home side. On 24 minutes, Milan Baros was left unmarked at the back post from a corner but as the ball fell to him, with Pascal Cygan dallying over who to mark, the Czech striker blasted his volley over the bar.

Baros and strike partner Luke Moore were proving a handful for Arsenal's creaking back line and the panic they caused helped create space for Gareth Barry to hit a rasping, swerving drive that Arsenal keeper Jens Lehmann did well to beat away.

The ball was fed back into the box and Moore crumpled to the ground under a heavy challenge from Kolo Toure but referee Uriah Rennie ignored the crowd's howls for a spot-kick.

The second half followed much the same pattern as the first with Villa dominating the ball and imposing territorial superiority on their insipid visitors.

French talisman Thierry Henry cut a lone figure, isolated on the left wing and playing only a peripheral role in proceedings.

But still it was the north Londoners who came closest to breaking the deadlock on 55 minutes when Freddie Ljungberg's rising drive crashed off the bar and away to safety with Thomas Sorensen in the Villa goal well beaten.

Just two minutes before that, Baros was guilty of glaring wastefulness when Moore put him clean through on goal.

But the Czech striker dallied even longer than Flamini had in the first-half when faced with an identical opportunity.

Baros seemed to want to pass the buck and looked to his left for support with only Lehmann to beat. But with no team-mate in sight, Baros thrashed his shot woefully high and wide.

Chances were coming thick and fast for the hosts around the hour mark and, twice in five minutes, Villa's on-loan Norway midfielder Eirik Bakke missed the target when well-placed.

First he latched on to a ricochet in the box but lashed his shot wide and then sliced a volley into orbit after once again Cygan was left in no man's land at a corner with two players to mark.

Late on, substitute Juan Pablo Angel missed a header for Villa while two minutes from time, Toure should have scored an undeserved winner for the Gunners from two yards but somehow contrived to poke his effort wide.