Aston Villa 0, Newcastle United 0 - Instant Reaction and Player Rating Form

Both teams played football for a bit. Neither was particularly good, and as a result, each had chances, but since neither were any good, those chances were squandered.

Repeat for 90 minutes.

We expected a defensive struggle, and this one wasn't pretty. Unfortunately, this one will be remembered for lack of finishing from Newcastle's perspective. Yoan Gouffran, Emmanuel Rivière, and Mike Williamson (!) all missed spectacularly from inside the 6 yard box. The best chance of the day came in the waning moments when Rivière found Siem de Jong behind the defense, but his powerful shot was right at Brad Guzan, who controlled his own rebound and prevented further chances.

It was scary for the Toon in their own end on several occasions, as they gave up counter after counter, but they were fortunate Andreas Weimann was wearing a claret and blue shirt today.

At the end of the day, it was an ugly 0-0 draw that we'd all like to soon forget, I'm sure. Also, Mike Williamson was sent off on a double yellow. At least there's a cup match midweek to take the sting off of his mandatory 1-game suspension.