Arthur Masuaku was sent off in a feisty contest as West Ham played out a goalless draw with Aston Villa at Villa Park.
The 25-year-old picked up a booking for a late challenge in the first half on Frederic Guilbert and received his marching orders after a foul on Ahmed Elmohamady.
West Ham held on to take a point home and extend their unbeaten run away from home to five games, but a sub-par attacking display would have disappointed Manuel Pellegrini on his 66th birthday.
The Chilean opted to keep the same side that beat Norwich City 2-0 last time out with Sebastien Haller leading the line. The Hammers came into this match in good form away from home, with three wins from their last four on the road, but began on the backfoot.
Jack Grealish was always likely to have a say in the proceedings and the playmaker fizzed in a dangerous cross which Wesley should have diverted past Lukasz Fabianski.
In a half filled with petty fouls and late challenges, tensions threatened to boil over. But few could have predicted tempers to flare from two players on the same team.
After making an important clearance, Tyrone Mings screamed furiously at team-mate Anwar El-Ghazi for failing to track back. The winger reacted furiously and the pair clashed heads before their team-mates separated them in a bizarre incident.
Villa boss Dean Smith must have feared the worst when VAR checked the incident for a red card, but fortunately for him, referee Mike Dean deemed the incident worthy of a reprimand and nothing more.
Fabianski was then forced into a number of fine saves towards the end of the half, first to deny El Ghazi with a brave punch and then John McGinn from 10 yards out.
After the interval, the hosts began to dominate play with Grealish and Jota combining well down the right.
The pressure was becoming a lot harder for the visitors to withstand and it got even more difficult when Masuaku, who had already been booked, tugged the shirt of substitute Ahmed Elmohamady. Clearly fed up with number of niggly fouls, referee Mike Dean pulled out the second yellow card and the red shortly after.
Despite having the man advantage, Villa struggled to make it count and missed a golden chance late on when Grealish failed to make a clean contact from McGinn's cross. Both sides had penalty appeals correctly turned down in stoppage time as a game lacking in quality finished with a scoreline to reflect it.
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Starting lineups and team news
Aston Villa XI: Heaton, Guilbert, Engels, Mings, Taylor, Grealish, Nakamba, McGinn, Jota, Wesley, El Ghazi
Subs: Douglas Luiz, Lansbury, Steer, Hourihane, Konsa, Elmohamady, Davis
West Ham: Fabianski, Fredericks, Diop, Ogbonna, Masuaku, Noble, Rice, Yarmolenko, Lanzini, Felipe Anderson, Haller
Subs: Balbuena, Zabaleta, Snodgrass, Roberto, Fornals, Wilshere, Ajeti
