Villa remains winless and goalless after Hull draw
Hull City maintained its unbeaten start to the Premier League season via a goalless draw with Aston Villa, which is still yet to win or score a goal in the competition in 2026-2027.
Unai Emery's men were vastly improved as an attacking force at MKM Stadium, but Ross Barkley, John McGinn and Emiliano Buendia all squandered clear sights of goal.
Hull, which has still not conceded a goal since returning to the top flight, enjoyed a strong finish and could have snatched all three points in stunning fashion, but Mohamed Belloumi's curler bounced off the crossbar.
Villa had gone through its first two games of the season without having a single shot on target, but it finally managed one 14 minutes into this encounter as Konstantinos Tzolakis blocked George Hemmings's drive with his legs.
Nicolas Jackson had already headed off target before then, and Villa posted the greater threat throughout the first half, with Hull limited to tame efforts from distance by Belloumi and Regan Slater.
The best chance of the opening period came when Buendia stepped over a right-wing cutback to tee up Barkley, but the Villa midfielder awkwardly kicked the ball onto his standing foot, and Tzolakis got down to turn it wide.
The visitors remained on the front foot early in the second half, with McGinn lifting a first-time effort over after a clever offload from Jackson, before Buendia somehow missed the target when completely unmarked barely 10 yards out, after fine work from Hemmings.
But the closest either team came to breaking the deadlock was Belloumi's spectacular attempt in the 65th minute. After playing a corner short and receiving a quick return pass, the Algerian let fly with an ambitious, left-footed curler that struck the woodwork.
Emery showed visible signs of frustration on the sideline as Villa's forward thrust waned, and Hull had two more half-chances to keep its winning start to the season going.
Mohamed-Ali Cho volleyed straight down Zion Suzuki's throat after some excellent hold-up play from Oliver McBurnie, who then failed to make proper contact with Ryan Giles's inviting delivery.
Sergej Jakirovic, who penned a new contract on Friday, will still be the happier of the two managers, with Hull second in the early-season table on seven points and Villa 17th on one.
But it was Emery that thought his Villa side did enough to win.
"The result is not enough, but how we played and how we created, with our chances to score – I think we deserved more," he said.
"We weren't clinical. We had four very good chances to score and, of course, if we score, the match can change.
"We avoided some mistakes we made before; we avoided the transitions, we avoided giving up corners or free-kicks, where they can feel strong.
"We had more chances, in the end, to win. They are very motivated, excited to be here at home with their supporters, and they had some options.
"But overall, after 90 minutes I feel comfortable that we are progressing. It's hard, but we have to accept how we are. Again, we are building the team."
Emery reiterated that patience will be required as Villa moves on from the sales of stalwarts Ollie Watkins, Morgan Rogers, Youri Tielemans, Ezri Konsa and Emiliano Martinez.
"We worked four years in the same structure and we always felt comfortable. The supporters were more or less happy with how we did it," he said.
"Now, we need time and in some ways it may not be about passion, but we have passion. Of course, to win matches, you need goals.
"But, we created chances today to score, and we must improve by being clinical. Then, we need to exploit things better and be better from set-pieces."
Lucas Herrington
Hull City AFC
