*Prospective Crystal Palace boss Alan Pardew saw the London club claim a goalless draw in a turgid encounter with Aston Villa.*

There was precious little excitement during 90 largely chanceless minutes at Villa Park.

Villa created more opportunities, with Christian Benteke and Alan Hutton both testing Julian Speroni with shots.

Palace had the clearest opening, but Yannick Bolasie struck the crossbar after breaking past the home defence.

Pardew - who is on the verge of taking the Palace reins from caretaker boss Keith Millen - will have been pleased with his potential new charges’ discipline and determination, but will also now be aware of the serious work he has to do to keep the London club in the top flight.

Palace remain in the bottom three despite this draw, which extends their winless run to eight matches, dating back to the 3-1 home victory over Liverpool on 23 November.

With a bit more ambition and greater composure when it mattered, the visitors could easily have won.

Bolasie’s chance was a clear one, earned through the awareness of the midfielder to steal the ball near the halfway line, but with just Brad Guzan to beat, the 25-year-old’s finishing deserted him.

It was not the only time Palace opened the home side up, with only a last-ditch tackle from Ciaran Clark denying Wilfried Zaha a chance in the six-yard box.

With just 11 goals to their name, Villa are the lowest-scoring team in English league football this campaign and it is easy to see why.

They lack speed - of both thought and movement - in attack, making it easy for an opponent to stifle them ahead of the 18-yard box.

Their chief attacking weapons, Christian Benteke and Gabriel Agbonlahor were starved of possession or given the ball in ineffectual areas.

Villa actually began the game well and twice forced Speroni to make low saves through close-range shots from Benteke and Hutton.

Their momentum was halted by a 15th-minute injury to Ron Vlaar and they failed to recapture it, with Benteke’s first-time shot over the bar from inside the box and a Leandro Bacuna free-kick, which Speroni saved, the closest they came to scoring.

Villa’s point lifted them above Everton into 12th position and they have a five-point cushion to the bottom three but need to significantly improve on a home record of just 15 wins from their last 63 matches.