Aston Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez was the hero as his side held Brighton & Hove Albion to a goalless draw at the Amex Stadium.
Brighton had the better of the chances in the first half, with Leandro Trossard and Dan Burn denied superbly by Martinez.
Although Ross Barkley fired an effort straight at Robert Sanchez for the visitors, Brighton continued to threaten after the interval.
Alexis Mac Allister's deflected shot drew another smart stop from Martinez and, after Neal Maupay fired just wide, Joel Veltman and Adam Lallana were also kept out by the Argentinian, who made nine saves in total to keep his 12th clean sheet of the season.
Villa move up to eighth place with 36 points, four points behind fourth-placed Liverpool, with two matches in hand.
Brighton, who extended their unbeaten Premier League run to a club-record six matches, are 15th on 26 points.
See: Brighton report | Villa report
Next fixtures
Brighton: 22 Feb v Crystal Palace (H)
Aston Villa: 21 Feb v Leicester (H)
Match officials
Referee: Darren England. Assistants: Constantine Hatzidakis, Peter Kirkup. Fourth official: Graham Scott. VAR: Martin Atkinson. Assistant VAR: Darren Cann.
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