Earlier in the day, the top two - Chelsea and Liverpool - played out goalless draws at home to Newcastle and Fulham respectively.

That gave Sir Alex Ferguson's champions a chance to close the gap in the evening kick-off at Villa Park, where they had won on their previous nine visits.

But Villa became the first team this season to stop the Red Devils from scoring and as a result they move into fourth place above Arsenal.

United dominated the opening 45 minutes but forced Brad Friedel to make only one worthwhile save.

On 14 minutes, Friedel - equalling David James' record of 166 consecutive Premier League appearances - turned aside a swerving drive from United winger Cristiano Ronaldo, who had cut inside Nigel Reo-Coker with ease.

Villa started brightly but after that conceded the majority of possession to Ferguson's side.

Towards the end of the half, Ashley Young produced a superb tackle to deny Park Ji-Sung in the Villa box as he prepared to shoot after being found in space by Wayne Rooney.

After the break, Young almost caught Edwin van der Sar out of position with a curling effort from 20 yards which looked destined for the top corner of the net until the Dutchman recovered to tip it over the bar.

Martin O'Neill was later incensed when referee Chris Foy failed to award a foul against Nemanja Vidic after he held on to the shirt of Gabriel Agbonlahor in full flight as he cut in from the left flank into the penalty area.

The home side were relieved to see Rooney squander a golden opportunity after 62 minutes.

Michael Carrick's overhead kick dropped into the path of the England striker, who volleyed high and wide when he would have been expected to at least hit the target.

There were few more scoring opportunities of note, although James Milner caused a scramble in the United penalty area late on when he cantered down the left and fed in a low ball which was eventually cleared.