Swansea City ended their three-game losing streak but remain without a win in seven after they were held to a goalless Premier League draw by West Ham.
Andre Ayew, Bafetimbi Gomis and Ki Sung-yueng all had chances to win the match for managerless Swansea but visiting goalkeeper Adrian proved too much of an obstacle.
The hosts also had credible claims for a penalty turned down when James Collins appeared to handle in the area during the second half as they were forced to settle for a share of the spoils.
West Ham - without Andy Carroll, who netted three times in two games against the Swans last term – relied heavily on the attacking threat of Mauro Zarate, but the Argentinian failed to make any of his opportunities count and was eventually substituted.
The result represents a fourth draw in a row for West Ham, who – like Swansea – are now without a win in seven top-flight matches.
A point is not enough to lift Swansea out of the relegation zone, while West Ham will spend Christmas in eighth position.
Swansea started the game in fine fashion and got an early chance to open the scoring via Gomis, only for the Frenchman to send his opportunistic volley well wide of the West Ham goal.
Ayew looked dangerous shortly after when he beat his man to a Neil Taylor cross from the left, but his header went just over.
Zarate was West Ham's main threat in the opening 45 minutes and he tested Lukasz Fabianski with a powerful strike from the left after cutting inside, yet his attempt went straight at the Swansea goalkeeper.
Ki got an opportunity to break the deadlock midway through the first half after some good work from Gomis inside the area, but Adrian did well to deflect the attacker’s right-footed shot wide for a corner.
Zarate continued to cause the Swansea defence problems on the counter-attack and unleashed a fine strike towards the top corner on the half-hour mark, but Fabianski reacted well to deny the forward.
Ayew tried his luck in the closing stages of the first half after Gomis’ poor shot ended up at the Ghanaian’s feet in a dangerous position, but he fired inches wide as it remained goalless at half-time.
Jack Cork produced a stunning volley on the hour mark after Cheikhou Kouyate failed to properly clear a corner, only for Adrian to pull off a sublime save to deny the 26-year-old.
Swansea felt they should have been awarded a penalty when Collins seemingly handled Ki's goalbound shot, but referee Lee Mason was not forthcoming with a decision in their favour.
With 15 minutes left on the clock, Enner Valencia beat his marker before cutting inside on to his right foot and sending a strong shot through the middle, but Fabianski did enough to tip it over the bar.
There was a late chance for Gylfi Sigurdsson to claim the full three points for Swansea after Adrian had denied Gomis - the Iceland international failing to get his shot from 30 yards on target as it remained scoreless in south Wales.
Key Opta stats:
- Swansea City kept a clean sheet for the first time since September in the Premier League, ending a run of 10 games without one.
- West Ham have drawn three successive league games 0-0 for the first time in their history.
- The Swans have won none of their last seven Premier League home games at Liberty Stadium (D4 L3), failing to score in five of those matches.
- The Hammers have kept three consecutive Premier League clean sheets for the first time since February 2014 (four matches). One of those games was also against Swansea.
- West Ham managed just 239 passes in total in this match, the lowest total they've mustered this campaign.
