New managers Martin Jol and Alex McLeish made unbeaten starts to their Premier League campaigns as Fulham and Aston Villa played out a 0-0 draw at Craven Cottage on Saturday.
Jol’s Fulham had the better chances but Shay Given, brought in by McLeish after a his virtual year off at Manchester City last term, kept out everything thrown at him.
Neither side hit top form in the first half, with Cottagers new boy John Arne Riise spooning a great 10th-minute effort over Given’s bar, following Danny Murphy’s precise through-ball.
Fulham, with six Europa League qualifiers behind them, looked the fitter as Damien Duff volleyed an ambitious effort over his Ireland international team-mate’s bar. Another Irishman, Richard Dunne, almost created Villa’s best opening so far, when a hopeful ball forward fell for Emile Heskey. The big man volleyed straight at Mark Schwarzer, however.
Darren Bent had a goal disallowed for offside before Charles N’Zogbia, of whom so much is expected at Villa, crossed for Heskey to shoulder nowhere near Schwarzer’s goal.
Stephen Warnock blocked Clint Dempsey's shot, with James Collins heading another N’Zogbia set-up over before Given superbly denied Andrew Johnson’s well-hit effort. Half-time came and went though without any goals going in.
Given needed to be alert again just after the restart after Bobby Zamora ran on to Johnson's flick-on and fired at the Irishman’s goal, Dempsey putting the rebound over.
A dull spell ensued before Zamora drew another save from the excelling Given, who was less troubled by a scuffed Johnson effort soon after.
Marc Albrighton replaced N'Zogbia and took a Bent pass before firing into the side-netting, before Dunne saw a header deflected wide in another rare Villa chance.
In the end the spoils were shared, with neither side doing enough to deserve to win it for their new manager.