There are lies, damned lies and matches at the JJB Stadium. Never before have Wigan Athletic been held to a goalless draw in the Barclays Premiership, in a top-flight history stretching back 50 matches, and if yesterday’s match was more one for the statisticians than the hedonists, both teams could claim to have substantiated their relative places in the grand scheme of things.

Only Manchester United have pulled in a bigger crowd at Wigan this season, but grinding out a fifth draw in seven away games will not be the limit of Aston Villa’s ambitions this term. “It’s terrible, isn’t it?” Martin O’Neill said of his team’s predilection for drawing. “I prefer to look at the other statistic, that we’ve lost one in 13. Liverpool, who are a much better side than us, haven’t won away from home yet. Eventually, you’d be hoping you could win your fair share of away games by the end of the season, but we have played away to Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea.” And Wigan.

Paul Jewell was satisfied with his team’s performance, especially on the back of the four successive wins that preceded it. “I thought it was terrific and the only thing missing was the goals,” the Wigan manager said. “First half, that’s as well as we’ve played in the Premiership. We just needed the icing on the cake. We did miss some chances, but that happens. Taking the last batch of five games, we’ve won four and drawn one and not conceded in four of them, so we’re moving in the right direction.”

Wigan are the Premiership’s best starters — having scored a quarter of their goals inside the first five minutes of matches — and they nearly took the lead inside 50 seconds. They found joy down Villa’s left all afternoon and when Henri Camara crossed long from the right, Lee McCulloch had time to choose where to place his header. Thomas Sorensen, however, saved splendidly and the tone of defiance was set.

Villa’s admirable first third of the season has masked deficiencies that were exposed in heavy defeats away to Liverpool and, in the Carling Cup, Chelsea, but they do not lack resolve. Victory over Everton last week — their first on the road — lifted them to the dizzy heights of third place, whither they could have returned yesterday. Yet with Gavin McCann suspended and Stiliyan Petrov injured, Peter Whittingham, the England Under-21 player, was drafted into midfield alongside Isaiah Osbourne, starting only his third Premiership match.

He almost scored, too, in the fourteenth minute. Osbourne lobbed a pass towards Gareth Barry and when the ball was cleared to the edge of the penalty area, Whittingham dispatched a right-foot shot against the outside of Chris Kirkland’s post.

The second period, thankfully, was a more edifying spectacle. When Emerson Boyce crossed, Osbourne, stretching backwards, diverted the ball on to the inside of his own post.As Wigan pressed for the victory, Villa counter-attacked with increasing belief, mainly through Chris Sutton’s intelligent link play and the pace of Gabriel Agbonlahor, who was switched to the centre midway through the half.

Josip Skoko started to offer penetration and, finding Paul Scharner’s excellently timed run, Wigan were thwarted only by Sorensen’s brave save at the Austrian’s feet.

Both teams went for victory and Sutton, receiving Barry’s pull-back, was left cursing as his shot was deflected just over in the last minute.