Aston Villa manager Unai Emery oversaw his first-ever goalless draw in the Premier League as Everton frustrated the Lions in Sunday's Goodison Park showdown.
Alex Moreno and Abdoulaye Doucoure both had goals disallowed in a fiery affair on Merseyside, as the Lions missed the chance rise back above Manchester City into second place in the table, while the Toffees are now just one point clear of Luton Town in 17th having played a game more.
While Dwight McNeil's ankle problem denied him the chance to start against the Lions, Doucoure came back into an Everton side who made the faster start at Goodison Park, albeit without the goal they craved.
Emery's side soon began to get a foothold in proceedings, and Moreno blasted a ferocious 20-yard effort into the bottom corner in the 17th minute to seemingly give the visitors the lead, as Everton's initial pleas for offside fell on deaf ears.
Villa had worked the ball to Moreno from a short corner routine, prior to which Everton thought that Leon Bailey had received the ball in an offside position, only for the linesman to keep his flag down before VAR intervened.
While tussling with Clement Lenglet inside the Villa box, Arnaut Danjuma appeared to be playing Bailey onside while down on the ground, but the VAR room still saw fit to disallow the goal after a few minutes of deliberations.
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Whether the strike was disallowed for one of two possible offside offences - Lenglet appeared to be in Jordan Pickford's line of sight - or a foul by the former on Danjuma was not clear at the time, but Villa were spurred on by that sense of injustice, and Bailey forced Pickford into a fine save at his near-post on the half-hour mark.
However, the Lions were soon in debt to Martinez for keeping the game goalless with a pair of vital saves in the 45th minute, firstly coming up trumps in a 1v1 against Dominic Calvert-Lewin before quickly getting down to his left to turn a James Garner strike behind.
Vitaliy Mykolenko's head being busted open was the only noteworthy moment of the first 15 minutes of the second half - the Ukrainian was fine to continue after being bandaged up - but two chances in quick succession in the 60th and 61st minutes saw John McGinn curl wide before Danjuma also flashed a low effort across goal and the wrong side of the post.
Tempers flared and challenges flew in left, right and centre as both sides struggled to find their killer touch heading into the closing exchanges, and while clear-cut chances were at a premium, a few seconds of penalty box pinball in the 85th minute ended with Seamus Coleman crucially blocking McGinn's goal-bound attempt.
Two minutes later, Jhon Duran stuck a leg out to connect with Matty Cash's cross at the near post, but his flick rolled across the face of goal and behind, mere seconds before Doucoure raced through and fired home, only for the Villa high line to catch him offside.
Seven minutes of injury time was insufficient for either side to nick a winner, stretching Everton's winless run across all tournaments to six matches ahead of their FA Cup third-round replay with Crystal Palace on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Villa have 11 days to recuperate before they return to knockout action, as Chelsea await at Stamford Bridge for their fourth-round FA Cup tie on January 26.
Ben Knapton
