Clambering out of the relegation zone with this well-earned point, West Ham United could barely have cherry-picked a happier fixture schedule as they prepare to welcome their bigger-name players back to full fitness over the next month.
Gianfranco Zola continues to make light of the club’s convoluted takeover business — “I just shut the door on this today so that I can concentrate on the game,” the manager said — before announcing that Carlton Cole, his England centre forward, is due to resume full training this week and that Kieron Dyer should not be far behind. On the day that Scott Parker returned to action after a hamstring injury and Robert Green, his England goalkeeper, to something approaching his best form, the West Ham manager suggested that his team’s performance in holding Aston Villa can provide a “platform” for Barclays Premier League survival.
“It is massive, not only to be out of the bottom three but also because picking up a point here is not an easy task,” Zola said. “It will give the players a big boost. There are many positive things, just as we have important players coming back.
“I’m lucky to have a bunch of players who are so committed. The desire to please me and the club is unbelievable. If we perform like this and when we have everybody back, we are good enough to start climbing the league. But we have to keep showing this level of commitment and focus.”
After a trip to Fratton Park, West Ham host Blackburn Rovers, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Birmingham City and Hull City either side of a visit to Burnley. Although they rode their luck yesterday, West Ham grew in confidence, stature and attacking threat as a frantic game progressed, Frank Nouble, 18, impressing as a lone striker on his full league debut.
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Villa were left frustrated in spurning the opportunity — another opportunity — to regain level pegging in the contest for fourth place. With Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur also held, and Manchester City losing, O’Neill’s team had the chance to reach the 38-point mark.
Yet their league form, such as it can be judged without any previous action this calendar year, has not been hot. Successive defeats by Arsenal and Liverpool have dented Villa’s ambition of moving on up into the Champions League place they tried on for size this time last year.
The only progress that Villa have been allowed since Christmas has been against Blackburn Rovers in both cups. On Wednesday they will seek to protect a one-goal advantage in the Carling Cup semi-final against Sam Allardyce’s team and so reach Wembley for the first time in ten years. That would resemble an achievement, a best yet in O’Neill’s tenure, but, in the Premier League, Villa must feel like they are hitting their heads against a ceiling.
Just when their chief rivals are wobbling, Villa get a dose of the heebie-jeebies themselves. They have gone three league games without a goal.
Gabriel Agbonlahor manoeuvred three clear goalscoring chances yesterday, most notably in the second minute of stoppage time when he turned Matthew Upson to run on to John Carew’s flick-on only to allow Green to come out and smother the ball, and James Milner finally ran out of luck, driving a 25-yard shot against the outside of a post early in the second half.
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West Ham, even without a senior striker available, could have stolen all the points when James Collins, the defender they sold to Villa for £5 million in August, sliced the ball over his own crossbar late on. They finished with more attacking options, Junior Stanislas and Alessandro Diamanti threatening Villa on the break, and, takeover distractions aside, West Ham must fancy their chances of staying up if they retain their best players beyond the transfer window.
Green, uncertain at times, produced spectacular saves from Ashley Young and Agbonlahor just as Villa looked set to take charge in the first half, and Upson and James Tomkins grew in stature as the game progressed. Parker showed glimpses of his class before giving way to rest his troublesome hamstring.
Stiliyan Petrov showed a different kind of class when he was upended by Radoslav Kovac after the Czech anchorman had been cautioned early in the game for an innocuous foul on Emile Heskey. The Villa captain could have stayed down, and in all probability earned Kovac a second yellow card. Instead, he bounced promptly to his feet. “I have to congratulate Petrov,” Zola said. “He is a fair person and a fair player.”
Aston Villa (4-4-2): B Friedel 7 C Cu?llar 5 J Collins 5 R Dunne 6 S Warnock 6 A Young 7 J Milner 7 S Petrov 8 S Downing 7 E Heskey 5 G Agbonlahor 6. Substitute: J Carew 5 (for Heskey, 57min). Not used: B Guzan, L Young, S Sidwell, N Delfouneso, F Delph, H Beye. Next: Arsenal (h)
West Ham (4-5-1): R Green 7 J Faubert 5 J Tomkins 7 M Upson 8 J Spector 6 V Behrami 5 S Parker 6 R Kovac 5 M Noble 5 J Collison 5 F Nouble 7 Substitutes: A Diamanti 7 (for Parker, 57min), J Stanislas 5 (for Kovac, 62), M Da Costa (for Nouble, 90). Not used: P Kurucz, L Jim?nez, F Sears, F Daprela. Next: Portsmouth (a).
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Referee: M Jones. Attendance: 35,646.