Hull v Aston Villa

It's arguably the best move Hull have put together all evening, and it starts and ends with McBurnie. The Scot does brilliantly to evade a challenge before setting his side away through Stroud. The midfielder drives forward with purpose and returns the favour to McBurnie, but the striker can't make the move count, skewing his effort well wide of the target.

If you're searching for an explanation as to why we're still waiting for the first goal, look no further than this statistic: Only Hull City (19) have managed fewer shots than Aston Villa (20) in the Premier League this season, and at times tonight it's shown. Yet for all the talk of Villa's superiority on paper, there's precious little separating the sides on the pitch, and it still feels like this game is there to be won by either team.

We're back under way, as Hull get the second half started.

Hull's xG of just 0.09 tells the story of a first half built largely on speculative efforts from distance, while Aston Villa's 0.56 suggests they have at least carved out the better openings, even if they too have fallen short in the final third. Emery's side are winless in their last five Premier League matches when level at half-time. Even so, Opta's supercomputer still makes Villa favourites to go on and claim all three points, handing them a 44.3% chance of victory. Hull remain the outsiders at 21.3%, but another clean sheet and a valuable point on the board would certainly be welcomed by the Tigers if the result was to stay the same.

There's nothing to separate Hull City and Aston Villa at the break, with the sides locked at 0-0 at the MKM Stadium. It's been a contest short on quality, but Villa have looked the more likely of the two teams to find a breakthrough. Club-record signing Jackson had the visitors' first real opening when he met Maatsen's cross, only to direct his header wide of the target. Hemmings then ensured Villa finally registered their first shot on target of the Premier League campaign, but Tzolakis reacted sharply to deny the teenager with an unconventional save using his knees. Barkley came closest to breaking the deadlock, but could only see a scuffed effort tipped wide by the alert Hull goalkeeper. Hull's threat has largely been restricted to efforts from distance, with Suzuki yet to be seriously tested between the posts. However, the Tigers will take encouragement from keeping the game finely balanced, and the longer that remains the case, the more belief will grow among a home crowd fully behind Sergej Jakirovic's side.

HALF-TIME: HULL CITY 0-0 ASTON VILLA