Brighton 0-0 Aston Villa

Emi Martinez produced a string of superb saves as Aston Villa and Brighton & Hove Albion shared a goalless draw at the Amex Stadium.

The Villa goalkeeper produced a heroic display to deny Leandro Trossard, Dan Burn, Joel Veltman and Danny Welbeck, among others, to ensure it finished a point apiece on a bitterly cold night on the south coast.

Man of the match Martinez, in the process, claimed his 12^th Premier League clean sheet of the campaign as he thwarted the dominant Seagulls.

The draw moves Villa on to 36 points from 22 matches, eclipsing last season's total by mid-February, with a home clash against Leicester City next Sunday.

Douglas Luiz returned to Villa’s starting XI as Dean Smith’s only change from last weekend’s victory over Arsenal.

It was the Seagulls who started on the front foot, Alexis Mac Allister heading over from close range after 10 minutes before Veltman tested Martinez from distance.

Neal Maupay forced the Villa No.1 into a smart stop shortly after the half-hour mark before the Argentinian made two superb saves to keep out Trossard’s long-range strike and Burn’s header, with the hosts creating the better openings of the first period.

Ross Barkley forced Seagulls stopper Robert Sanchez into action immediately after the restart before Martinez again saved well from Mac Allister at the other end.

Trossard sent an effort narrowly off target just prior to the hour, with Villa losing Matty Cash to injury shortly afterwards, replaced by Ahmed Elmohamady.

Martinez was at it yet again to keep out Veltman’s long-range strike as Smith turned to Trezeguet and Morgan Sanson off the bench.

Seagulls substitute Welbeck was the latest to be denied by Martinez as the game entered the latter stages.

And there was still time for him to keep out Trossard’s late free-kick as Villa preserved their unbeaten record away at Brighton stretching back to 1980.

Villa: Martinez, Cash (Elmohamady 61), Konsa, Mings, Targett, McGinn, Luiz, Barkley (Sanson 76), Traore (Trezeguet 66), Watkins, Grealish.

Subs: Heaton, Engels, Nakamba, Ramsey, El Ghazi, Davis.