Nani sees Red as United battled to earn a point

Ryan Giggs sees his cross-shot deflected into the Aston Villa net by James Collins

It says everything about Manchester United’s mood that their body language as they left the pitch last night was that of a team who regarded this result as two points dropped.

Such feelings will have been replaced with quiet satisfaction by the time that news filtered through of Chelsea’s demise at Goodison Park, but a good evening could, and arguably should, have been an even better one for them.

Left to play with ten men for an hour away from home against a team with Champions League aspirations, United might have been forgiven for holding back, but they were the team who kept running, fighting and attacking until the end as Aston Villa retreated into their shell.

As Sir Alex Ferguson, the United manager, put it afterwards: “We put [Antonio] Valencia on, we put [Dimitar] Berbatov on, we wanted to win the game because that’s what this title race is all about.”