Chelsea and Aston Villa have played out a goalless first half at Villa Park in the Premier League this evening.

Willian and Fernando Torres linked up a couple of times in the opening spell as they looked to force an early goal, but Brad Guzan was able to stop the Spaniard's finishes.

Fabian Delph stretched the Chelsea midfield with a quick counter-attack before crossing the ball in for Christian Benteke, but the Belgian's header was well wide.

Willian attempted to drill the ball in from distance, but the Brazilian's shot was deflected wide by a Guzan save, while Oscar curled his effort just wide a couple of minutes later.

Gabriel Agbonlahor teed the ball up for Benteke shortly before the break and he lashed the ball towards the goal, but it finished just wide of the far post.

Chelsea thought that they had taken the lead inside the final five minutes when the ball ended up in the back of the net following a corner, but the assistant referee ruled it out, having spotted a handball offence by Nemanja Matic.