Crystal Palace held Aston Villa to a goalless draw in front of Alan Pardew at Villa Park.

Pardew, who is heavily tipped to take charge of the Eagles, watched on as his potential charges secured another point in their survival bid.

Villa had the best of the openings but Palace ultimately held on for their second successive 0-0 draw under caretaker boss Keith Millen.

Here, Sports Mole looks at the players' performances from this evening's stalemate in the West Midlands.

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Goal

Brad Guzan: Quite literally did not have a shot to save, but managed to command his area well enough and claim a number of free kicks without incident. (6/10)

Defence

Alan Hutton: Missed Villa's best chance in the first half after somehow missing from close range, with Speroni, to his credit, contributing by producing a fine save. Little to do defensively. (5/10)

Ron Vlaar: Only lasted 13 minutes before being replaced by Clark. (5/10)

Jores Okore: Initially looked out of sorts once centre-back partner Vlaar went off injured, but he gradually improved alongside the impressive Clark. (6/10)

Aly Cissokho: Perhaps could have contributed more going forward, but did pull off one goal-saving intervention to thwart McArthur in the second half. (6/10)

Midfield

Carlos Sanchez: Like Cleverley, Sanchez was guilty of a host of loose passes that invited Palace pressure on Villa's defence, but fortunately for him he got away with them. (5/10)

Leandro Bacuna: Very mixed bag for the Dutchman on his return to the first XI. He looked brilliant and woeful in equal measure at times, but overall he did not do enough to displace the suspended Fabian Delph in future outings. (6/10)

Tom Cleverley: Shielded possession really well at times but perhaps slightly guilty of a few misplaced passes. Subbed on 63 minutes for Grealish. (5/10)

Andreas Weimann: One of Villa's better players in recent outings, but he was never involved this afternoon and found himself subbed for Joe Cole in the closing stages. The change could have perhaps come a little sooner. (4/10)

Attack

Gabriel Agbonlahor: Like Weimann, found himself isolated from the game for large spells. He was never going to make a difference this afternoon. (4/10)

Christian Benteke: Spurned Villa's best chance of the game by firing Weimann's cut-back pass well over the bar on 70 minutes. Not at the races this afternoon and that second-half chance might come back to haunt the Villans. (5/10)

Substitutes

Ciaran Clark: Replaced the injured Vlaar on 13 minutes and pulled off one goal-saving tackle to thwart Zaha late on in the first half. Comfortably Villa's best performer. (7/10)

Jack Grealish: Looked very lively after replacing Cleverley and might have done enough to earn a long-awaited starting berth. (6/10)

Joe Cole: Only had a number of minutes to make an impact. (5/10)

Goal

Julian Speroni: Palace have him to thank for the clean sheet after producing two very decent saves early on, and a few more later on in the clash. (6/10)

Defence

Adrian Mariappa: Maybe could have offered more in an attacking sense, but a big reason as to why we never saw the jet-heeled Agbonlahor in full stride. (6/10)

Scott Dann: Expertly shackled Benteke for the most part, but was slightly fortunate that the big Belgian could not convert Weimann's second-half cut-back. (6/10)

Damien Delaney: Can consider himself a big factor in the clean sheet after producing one or two really crucial blocks - most notably to deny Bacuna in the final 15 minutes. (6/10)

Martin Kelly: Found himself under little pressure defensively, but did look a real threat going forward and fizzed in a couple of excellent low crosses that might have been converted on another day. (6/10)

Midfield

James McArthur: Might have made the difference after finding himself with just Guzan to beat, but a poor first touch allowed Cissokho to make a crucial tackle before he could pull the trigger. (5/10)

Joel Ward: Slotted into midfield in the absence of Mile Jedinak - who is on international duty - but struggled to have the same impact as the Australian midfielder. (4/10)

Joe Ledley: More or less invisible for large spells and guilty of a series of misplaced passes throughout the 90 minutes. (4/10)

Jason Puncheon: One or two snapshots, but the Palace winger never inspired confidence that he could positively influence this game for the visitors. (4/10)

Attack

Yannick Bolasie: Missed comfortably the best chance of the 90 minutes after racing clear of Villa's defence, but fluffed his lines in the one-on-one with Guzan and hit the crossbar. Big miss. (4/10)

Wilfried Zaha: Had little to not impact after spending his entire 60 minutes on the periphery of the game. Was never allowed use his pace to trouble Villa's defence. (4/10)

Substitutes

Dwight Gayle: Found himself with a little more freedom than Zaha, but never looked like the hero that Palace wanted him to be this afternoon. (5/10)

Barry Bannan: An injury-time sub for McArthur. (5/10)

Written by
Shane Callaghan