United Closes Gap On Chelsea Despite Nani's Red Card At Villa Park

Manchester United survived the early dismissal of Nani to secure a well-earned draw at Aston Villa and close the gap on Chelsea at the top of the Premier League to one point.

Nani was shown a straight red card for a 28th-minute lunge at Stiliyan Petrov - and the resulting three-game ban rules him out of the Carling Cup final against Villa at Wembley later this month.

Villa took a deserved lead after 19 minutes when Carlos Cuellar headed home after United failed to deal with Stewart Downing's dangerous cross.

Nani, before his departure, helped set up United's swift response when Ryan Giggs returned his cross into the penalty area and James Collins deflected the ball into his own net. It was the 10th own goal in United's favour this season.

Despite being reduced to 10 men, United were the better side and were inspired by another virtuoso display from Wayne Rooney, who covered every blade of grass at Villa Park to compensate for Nani's loss.

Villa faded after an excellent opening and United controlled the remainder of proceedings, with Michael Carrick and Rooney bringing the best out of Villa keeper Brad Friedel.

United boss Sir Alex Ferguson may be frustrated by his side's failure to get the maximum return from their performance, but there was much to admire in their resilience and the quality of Rooney and they will have been lifted by news of Chelsea's defeat at Everton.

As well as Nani's dismissal, Ferguson had another concern with Giggs going off near the end clutching his arm.

Villa gave a rare start to gifted youngster Fabian Delph, the summer signing from Leeds and he excelled as Martin O'Neill's side took charge in the opening exchanges.

United struggled to cope with Villa's quality of delivery from the flanks, so it was no surprise that their failure to deal with Downing's cross led to the opener after 19 minutes.

Rafael could only partially clear, but Cuellar still did well to get enough power behind a lofted, looping header to beat Edwin van der Sar.

Villa's lead lasted only four minutes, and the champions were indebted to a large slice of good fortune to restore equality.

Nani found Giggs at the far post, and his volley was flying across the face of goal until it struck Collins and flew past Friedel.

It was Nani's last positive contribution was he was shown the red card after 28 minutes.

He attempted to win possession in a tussle with Petrov by launching a senseless, two-footed lunge and left referee Peter Walton with the easiest of decisions to send him off.

As so often, the side with a numerical disadvantage seemed to adapt quicker to the change in circumstances and United suddenly looked the more controlled side, with Friedel turning Carrick's shot over the top.

Ferguson made a change at the interval, withdrawing Paul Scholes and introducing Antonio Valencia, who almost made an instant impact with a rising effort that flew just off target.

James Milner tested Van der Sar before O'Neill made a change of his own, somewhat surprisingly replacing Delph with the giant figure of John Carew.

United were forced into another change with 17 minutes left when Giggs hurt his arm in an innocuous incident, allowing Dimitar Berbatov to enter the action.

Rooney was starting to exert his quality on proceedings and he brought another fine save from Friedel with 15 minutes left as he drove in a powerful shot from the edge of the area.

It was the last serious threat from either side and they were both forced to settle for a point ahead of their big Wembley date.

Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill:
"I thought we could maybe take advantage but we were a bit tired in the second half and we didn't create enough to cause them undue worry.

"But they haven't been gallivanting around Europe winning Champions Leagues and titles without being a top side.

"I thought it was a red card, when you go in two-footed nowadays there is a decent chance the referee will show a red card."

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson:
"It was an important night and, with Everton winning against Chelsea, we have gained one point and one goal.

"Nani is not a malicious player but he has gone in with his foot raised off the ground and we cannot complain about it.

"We should have had a foul seconds before when Agbonlahor came in with his foot up on Wes Brown's ribs.

"That was disappointing but we have no argument at all with the red card, it was a naive tackle."

Manchester United dominated the game after Nani was sent off