Aston Villa 0, West Ham 0: Andy Walker's big match verdict

Jan 18 2010 By Mat Kendrick

ARE Villa starting to come down with another bout of ‘second half of the season’ syndrome?

While in no way was this result a complete disaster, it may well have psychological repercussions.

A potential trip to Wembley is the talk of Villa Park at the moment but, in the background of all that Carling Cup excitement, the club are developing a worrying run of league form.

Villa have now failed to taste victory in their last three Premier League victories and taken just one of nine precious points.

It has resulted in Martin O’Neill’s men wasting glorious opportunities to steal a march in the race to break in to the Premier League’s top four.

And that failure to keep on the coattails of the Champions League places is a familiar scenario for Villa.

Last season, the UEFA Cup debacle in Moscow triggered a run of eight games without a win as Villa finished their season with a whimper.

Now has the buzz of the Carling Cup brought on another end of season wobble?

Only time will tell, but yesterday was another opportunity for Villa to continue to ruin the clicky party at the top of the Premier League.

Villa had seen fellow top four-chasers -Tottenham, Manchester City and Liverpool - all drop points on Saturday. Victory over West Ham would have seen Villa move level on points with fourth-placed Spurs.

And given the fact that the Hammers are out-of-form, relegation-haunted and reliant on an 18-year-old kid for their goals, it appeared foolish to bet against anything other than a Villa victory.

However, it turned out to be an afternoon of nothing but frustration for the hosts, as the West Ham defence repelled chance after chance.

Villa were the better team, created the greater goal-scoring opportunities and even had the ball in the net only for John Carew’s scrambled effort to be flagged off-side.