ASTON VILLA arrived at Old Trafford last night with the meanest defensive record in the Premiership and at though Manchester United had three clear scoring chances in the first half it was easy to see why.

As a result of their stubbornness, with this goalless draw United missed the chance to close to within two points of the leaders, Liverpool, and, indeed, dropped to third place behind Arsenal.

Alex Ferguson, the United manager, rates Villa as a fine mixture of youth and experience with athleticism running throughout the side.

It was not only in defence, however, that Villa impressed. They were always prepared to carry the ball into United's half and there was never any danger of Peter Schmeichel suffering from frostbite on a bitterly cold night.

Ryan Giggs, Ronnie Johnsen and Eric Cantona will all have been disappointed not to have given United the lead. All three wasted inviting chances, but this was no one sided contest.

Villa, with Dwight Yorke and Savo Milosevic constant threats, were always prepared to carry the fight to United and carved out a number of chances and had legitimate claims for a penalty when Roy Keane brought down Milosevic in the area.

It was Villa who fired the opening salvo. Giggs gave away a free kick on the left and when the ball came out to Andy Townsend the Villa captain's left foot drive from the edge of the area was not that far over.

But United should have taken the lead in the fourth minute. Keane, with a typically determined tackle, robbed Steve Staunton and set Cantona free on the right. His cross was perfect but Giggs, who might even have thought about heading the ball, tried to rip out the roof of the net with his left foot and sliced a gilt edged chance wide.

Milosevic then made claims for a penalty and soon afterwards a snap shot from Ian Taylor had Schmeichel scrambling anxiously across to shovel the ball wide. Another chance fell to Mark Draper but in his anxiety to end a personal goal drought of 15 months he, got himself, offside when he might with profit have left the ball to Yorke.

Giggs did his utmost to make amends for that early miss and a glorious piece of work - which started in his own half when he robbed Milosovic - might have ended with Cantona scoring but the Frenchman's shot was weak.

Before that Johnsen had risen superbly to David Beckham's free kick from the left but then headed the ball straight into the arms of Mark Bosnich. That chance came alter Nelson deliberately handled and was cautioned.

Taylor's name then went into David Elleray's book for a crass piece of obstruction on Denis Irwin and just before half time there was a nasty moment when Beckham caught Milosevic late. Milosevic reacted angrily and both players were booked.

After the break, both teams struggled to find the attacking edge that had made for an exciting first period despite the lack of goals.

Gary Neville became the fifth player to be booked for a challenge that left Yorke in a heap and in need of treatment in the 54th minute.

Villa almost snatched the lead when Yorke laid the ball into the path of Milosevic and he hit a shot that took a massive deflection off Johnsen and flew wide with Schmeichel diving the wrong way.

The frustrated United fans soon began to call for the introduction of Andy Cole, with Ole Solskjaer unable to make a telling impact on Villa's five man defence.

And Ferguson responded with 22 minutes remaining, bringing on the £7 million striker for the fading Norwegian.

Deep into injury time Beckham fired over the bar from the edge of the area after being set up by Cantona. So for the second successive season Villa left Old Trafford with a goalless draw.

Afterwards Alex Ferguson said: Overall, we've done quite well over the holiday period. We needed that type of run because it keeps us up in the pecking order at the top of the league and at the end of December, the league starts to take shape.

After tonight, you can see how it's taking shape. There are four or five, maybe six teams battling it out at the top, which is good for the league itself. It makes for an interesting half.

Ferguson was not unhappy with his side's failure to capture all three points. "I thought it was going to be a difficult game, Aston Villa are very difficult customers to play against so I'm not too disappointed about the result."

. Manchester United are now 2-1 to win favourites along with Liverpool for the Premiership with Ladbrokes.