Aston Villa claimed their first Premier League point of the season, but a 0-0 draw at Hull City left them ruing missed chances.
Unai Emery took charge of his 200th game for the Villans, hoping for better fortunes after an improved display against Arsenal.
Nicolas Jackson headed wide inside the opening minutes, and youngster George Hemmings registered the club's first shot on target of the season in the first quarter of an hour. Yet the reigning Europa League champions often lacked the creativity to trouble the newly promoted Tigers, who looked the more dangerous side in the first half with a series of long-range efforts.
The second half began with Villa wasting two glorious opportunities. Emi Buendia and Jackson combined to send John McGinn through one-on-one with Konstantinos Tzolakis, but the Scot fired over. Three minutes later, Buendia found himself unmarked in the penalty area but could not keep his effort down.
From then on, Hull looked the likelier winners. Mohamed Belloumi saw a curling shot crash off the crossbar just after the hour mark, and deep into stoppage time Ryan Giles picked out Oli McBurnie inside the box, but the Championship hero fluffed his lines when a first Premier League goal for the Tigers seemed inevitable.
The stalemate means Hull remain unbeaten with three consecutive clean sheets, a dream start to the season, while Villa's first point lifts them out of the bottom three.
Despite a third successive match without a goal, Emery was encouraged by his side's performance as they continue to rebuild after losing several key players.
"I'm positive. The result is not enough but how we planned and how we played and how we created some chances to score, I think we deserved more," Emery told Sky Sports.
"We avoided mistakes we made before. We avoided transitions. Through our positioning and keeping possession we tried to dominate and then in the end we had the chances to win.
"Of course they are very excited in front of their home supporters. They had some chances, but overall in 90 minutes, I can feel comfortable with how we are progressing."
The Spaniard did admit his side needed to be more clinical in the final third going forward.
"We weren't clinical. We had four very good chances to score and of course if we do the match can change. When you don't you have to be careful defensively of the transition."
