Aston Villa was held to a 0-0 draw by Wigan on Sunday, missing the chance to move into third place in the English Premier League.
Villa stayed in fifth place in the standings -- behind Manchester United, Chelsea, Portsmouth and Arsenal -- while Wigan moved up one place to ninth.
Tottenham rallied to a 1-1 draw at Blackburn in a match where both clubs finished with 10 men.
Wigan's best chance came from midfielder Lee McCullough, who had an early header stopped by Aston Villa goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen and then sent the rebound over.
Wigan defender Emmerson Boyce almost deflected the ball into the net, but it was cleared by Villa defender Liam Ridgwell.
"They were miles better than us in the first half, but then after halftime we came into the game more and looked more dangerous," Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill said. "But it would have been harsh on Wigan if we had sneaked the three points, so overall I think we have done well."
Wigan had its first 0-0 draw since being promoted to the Premier League last year and manager Paul Jewell was impressed.
"In the first half, that's as well as we have played in the Premiership," Jewell said. "We were really good and all that was missing for the icing on the cake was a goal or goals."
For Aston Villa, captain Gareth Barry sent a shot over the crossbar in the 52nd minute, and Peter Whittingham clipped the outside of the right post in the first half.
Blackburn midfielder Tugay Kerimoglu scored with a 25m volley in the 23rd minute. He was sent off in the 60th minute for a foul on Tottenham midfielder Hossam Ghaly.
"I'm incensed. It was a genuine attempt to get across the guy. No intent whatsoever," Blackburn manager Mark Hughes said. "We tried to get the assistant to change his mind but he decided to send him off."
Jermain Defoe made it 1-1 from the resulting penalty kick in the 62nd. Blackburn goalkeeper Brad Friedel dived to his right but couldn't get to the ball in time.
Ghaly was shown a red card in second-half injury time for a high tackle on defender Michael Gray.
Tottenham manager Martin Jol was then sent to the stands for protesting Ghaly's dismissal with referee Phil Dowd.
"All I wanted to do was protect my player," Jol said. "I said, `You are totally wrong.' And he said, `You can go as well.' Hopefully he will rethink the situation."
Tottenham stayed in 13th place while Blackburn remained in 15th.
Manchester United leads the league with 34 points after a 2-1 win over Sheffield United on Saturday. Wayne Rooney scored twice.
Two-time defending champion Chelsea is second with 31 points after a 1-0 win over West Ham. Arsenal slipped further off the pace, drawing 1-1 at home against struggling Newcastle.
RECORD DEFEAT: The Shanghai-based ‘Oriental Sports Daily’ said the drubbing was so disastrous, and taste so bitter, that all that is left is ‘numbness’ Chinese soccer fans and media rounded on the national team yesterday after they experienced fresh humiliation in a 7-0 thrashing to rivals Japan in their opening Group C match in the third phase of Asian qualifying for the 2026 World Cup. The humiliation in Saitama on Thursday against Asia’s top-ranked team was China’s worst defeat in World Cup qualifying and only a goal short of their record 8-0 loss to Brazil in 2012. Chinese President Xi Jinping once said he wanted China to host and even win the World Cup one day, but that ambition looked further away than ever after a
‘KHELIFMANIA’: In the weeks since the Algerian boxer won gold in Paris, national enthusiasm is inspiring newfound interest in the sport, particularly among women In the weeks since Algeria’s Imane Khelif won an Olympic gold medal in women’s boxing, athletes and coaches in the North African nation say national enthusiasm is inspiring newfound interest in the sport, particularly among women. Khelif’s image is practically everywhere, featured in advertisements at airports, on highway billboards and in boxing gyms. The 25-year-old welterweight’s success in Paris has vaulted her to national hero status, especially after Algerians rallied behind her in the face of uninformed speculation about her gender and eligibility to compete. Amateur boxer Zougar Amina, a medical student who has been practicing for a year, called Khelif an
Crowds descended on the home of 17-year-old Chinese diver Quan Hongchan after she won two golds at the Paris Olympics while gymnast Zhang Boheng hid in a Beijing airport toilet to escape overzealous throngs of fans. They are just two recent examples of what state media are calling “toxic fandom” and Chinese authorities have vowed to crack down on it. Some of the adulation toward China’s sports stars has been more sinister — fans obsessing over athletes’ personal lives, cyberbullying opponents or slamming supposedly crooked judges. Experts say it mirrors the kind of behavior once reserved for entertainment celebrities before
GOING GLOBAL: The regular season fixture is part of the football league’s increasingly ambitious plans to spread the sport to international destinations The US National Football League (NFL) breaks new ground in its global expansion strategy tomorrow when the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers face off in the first-ever grid-iron game staged in Brazil. For one night only, the land of Pele and ‘The Beautiful Game’ will get a rare glimpse into the bone-crunching world of American football as the Packers and Eagles collide at Sao Paulo’s Neo Quimica Arena, the 46,000-seat home of soccer club Corinthians. The regular season fixture is part of the NFL’s increasingly ambitious plans to spread the US’ most popular sport to new territories following previous international fixtures