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. (BBC Sport)
