Aston Villa endured a second consecutive goalless outing as they were held to a 0-0 draw by Chelsea in the Emirates FA Cup fourth round on Friday evening. It was a night under the lights at Stamford Bridge that saw the goalkeepers shine as Emiliano Martinez and Dorde Petrovic made a whole host of impressive saves. Both sides have several good chances to win but failed to take advantage and have added to an already busy upcoming fixture schedule in the process. They will have to do it all again in a replay at Villa Park in the next couple of weeks.
Villa thought they'd gotten off to a dream start when Douglas Luiz fortuitously netted in the 10th minute but saw his goal disallowed by VAR. Moussa Diaby's speculative effort deflected high in the air and ricocheted into Luiz's path, allowing the Brazilian to tap into an open net. The away support and Martinez jumped up passionately in unison but a second look from VAR found a handball from Luiz, bringing an abrupt end to the celebrations. The midfielder's arms were by his sides but the ball flicked off his right hand, which meant the goal had to be disallowed – deliberate or not.
Chelsea responded brilliantly as they peppered the visitors' goal after what acted as an early wake-up call. Noni Madueke nearly scored but was denied by Martinez before Clement Lenglet gifted the ball straight into the path of Cole Palmer. Villa were lucky as the forward, who was clean through, fluffed his lines by striking straight at Martinez. The brilliance from Villa's goalkeeper continued as he made an even more impressive stop by beating away a close-range effort from Madueke to keep it goalless heading into the interval.
Villa improved after the break as they enjoyed more sustained spells of possession. Chelsea's threat switched to being from a high press and on the transition rather than from controlling proceedings themselves. That seemed to favour the visitors on the chance creation front but yet another defensive error gifted Palmer a glorious opening to score. Martinez, hardly pressured, mishit a clearance into the path of Palmer but Villa were spared their blushes as the Blues number 20 completely scuffed his shot.
Matty Cash had a glorious opportunity to score and he was so unlucky not to as he was found on the right by Ollie Watkins, cut onto his left foot and struck hard toward the far bottom corner. The Poland international did all he realistically to convert but Petrovic reacted excellently to make an impressive diving stop. The chances kept on coming in the latter stages as Ezri Konsa skewed one past the right post from just outside the area and McGinn glanced an effort just wide from a Cash cross. As it was, though, the Villans nor the Blues could find a breakthrough. Here are our Villa player ratings.
5. Alex Moreno - 6
Struggled to make his mark in an attacking sense as much as usual but did well to limit Madueke’s threat. Palmer’s too when the forward moved wide towards the end. | Getty Images
6. Boubacar Kamara - 6
Looked composed defensively, breaking up the play and getting across to make some top interventions. Misplaced quite a few passes out from the back, however, forcing pressure on his teammates. One case was particularly poor as he misjudged a backpass and troubled Martinez, who just got there in time ahead of Gallagher. | Getty Images
7. Douglas Luiz - 7
Displayed good anticipation for his disallowed goal and was just a little unlucky the ricochet hit his hand. Showed good drive to dribble forward - albeit unsuccessful with most attempts - and didn’t misplace many passes. Tried his luck from range in the second half, forcing a save. | Getty Images
8. John McGinn - 7
Worked tirelessly to win back possession and looked dangerous every time he wriggled away on the half-turn. Gave £115 million-man Caicedo quite the run-around, it has to be said, but a few too many passes into the final third lacked cutting edge. | AFP via Getty Images