Aston Villa 0-0 Manchester City

Raheem Sterling missed two good chances after going up front in place of the injured Wilfried Bony

Bottom club Aston Villa held leaders Manchester City to a goalless draw in Remi Garde's first game as manager.

Displaying a new-found defensive solidity, the hosts restricted City well although Raheem Sterling should have scored with a close-range header.

Fernando saw a late header hit the bar for the visitors, while substitute Fabian Delph's low shot rolled just wide.

Villa were less effective going forward and did not manage a shot on target.

However, they will welcome their first point since August against a free-scoring City side who were held to their second successive 0-0 draw away from home in the Premier League.

The result ends a disastrous run of seven straight league defeats for the Villans, while Manuel Pellegrini's side remain level on points with Arsenal at the top of the Premier League following the Gunners' 1-1 draw with Tottenham.

Did City miss an attacking spearhead?

Raheem Sterling's header was inside the six-yard box but Brad Guzan somehow managed to get himself in the way of it

Manchester City had 13 shots on goal in total - 10 of which came in the second half - but far too often they appeared to lack a figurehead up front.

Wilfried Bony was substituted with a hamstring injury after 25 minutes, but rather than send on a like-for-like striking replacement in Kelechi Iheanacho they pushed Sterling and Kevin de Bruyne further forward and put Bony's replacement Jesus Navas out wide.

They still created enough chances to win the game, but a combination of poor finishing, good goalkeeping and some new manager luck denied them.

Sterling will be disappointed not to score when clean through, but the England forward elected to cut inside on to his right foot and that allowed two defenders to get back and clear the danger.

The £49m signing also saw a point-blank header hit goalkeeper Brad Guzan on the forehead and deflect wide, while De Bruyne stabbed wide following a good cross from Navas.

City almost nicked it when former Villa captain Delph, who was booed when he came on, went close moments after Fernando had struck the bar in a frenetic end to the game.

Rude manners from Gestede?

Rudy Gestede sparked a minor confrontation when he appeared to deliberately win a corner while returning the ball to Manchester City

Rudy Gestede provided more attacking spark for Aston Villa in a six-minute cameo at the end than the rest of his team-mates put together.

He angered City when he returned the ball to Joe Hart via a heavy throw-in and the goalkeeper could only deflect it wide for a corner.

The striker ignored City's reaction and, from the resulting corner, shot just over the bar.

Man of the match - Ciaran Clark (Aston Villa)

Ciaran Clark, along with Villa's other defenders, was a rock and he made a game-high 11 clearances to keep Manchester City's expensively-assembled attack at bay

The stats that matter

• Aston Villa have failed to score in six of their last eight league meetings with Man City.

• City have lost just one of their past eight away Premier League games (W5 D2), keeping six clean sheets in that run.

• However, City are winless in three Premier League away games (D2 L1).

• The Villans kept their first PL clean sheet since the opening day of the season, and first at home this season.

• Villa failed to register a single shot on target for the first time in a Premier League match since August 2014 (v Newcastle).

• Man City have allowed their opponents just 28 shots on target this season, fewer than any other team in the Premier League.

• Villa kept their first clean sheet against Man City since January 2011.

What the managers said

Aston Villa manager Remi Garde: "It was a nice experience and a fantastic atmosphere. It was a tough game. I can be vey happy with my team today, I saw smiles on their faces.

"When you play with sadness it does not help you. I tried in the three training sessions we had to deliver my message. Nobody expected we were going to score two or three goals. The difference between the two teams before was huge. Making sure we were well organised defensively was my priority.

"Some of the players who didn't start today had problems during the week. Nobody will play because he's French or Spanish or British. I saw in training how good or bad they were."

Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini: "We're disappointed with the draw. I think we did enough to win the game. They had just one shot on our goal, we had three or four clear chances to score.

"Villa defended very well with nine or 10 players. We tried to break that line. Two or three of our chances were unlucky. This happens in football.

"Without Bony and without Sergio Aguero we don't have a player who plays inside the box. We have to try and work without them."

What next?

Aston Villa have a difficult, but winnable, couple of games ahead of them in November. They visit Everton after the international break on 21 November before welcoming Watford the following week.

It is also a big month for Manchester City, who play Liverpool on 21 November before facing Juventus and Southampton, although the two Premier League games are at home.