ASTON VILLA 0 MANCHESTER UNITED 0

For once, Manchester United did not register their annual victory at Villa Park. Villa's success in preventing that was no fluke. This was the stereotype of the Premier League in extremis; much of the creative potential of the teams was blown away by the sheer hurricane force of the energy in the game. No player on either side took a backward step: it was played hard, largely fair, and brutally fast. A draw was a fair result. United had more spells in which they controlled the game, without ever creating a large number of chances. Villa felt hard done by when Gabriel Agbonlahor fell in the penalty area early in the second half trying to outpace Nemanja Vidic; replays showed that any offence took place outside the penalty area but the Serb, as the last defender, had taken a serious risk by clearly pulling Agbonlahor's shirt.

UP TO FOURTH
It was an odd day in the Premier League. None of the top five won or even scored, but Arsenal's defeat at Manchester City allowed Villa to slip past them into the top four place that many had dared to predict before the start of the season but for which, until the victory at Arsenal, there had been little to suggest might become reality. Now, after four points from games against Arsenal and Manchester United, and with Arsenal in an apparent (relative) crisis, it is realistic to think in terms of Villa taking them on in a race for fourth place.

REO-COKER RESPONDS
The recent development of Steve Sidwell into one of Villa's first-choice midfielders has been a happy story for everyone except Nigel Reo-Coker, who found himself the odd man out. A vacancy arose at right-back, though, with Carlos Cuellar injured and Nicky Shorey apparently out of favour. Reo-Coker has played in that position before, but rarely with the distinction achieved in this match. He was excellent. It would not have been a relief to him to find Cristiano Ronaldo starting the game on his flank, but Reo-Coker had at least an even share of their personal battle and - along with the rest of his team - showed impressive powers of concentration. Sidwell's form may mean that Reo-Coker will find chances in midfield hard to come by, so he should view the opportunity to play at right-back as a glimpse of the future. If Cuellar recovers by next Saturday, it will be unkind if Reo-Coker is asked to give way.

KEEPING IT GOING
Villa's efforts in the last week have been worthy of the reward they have received. Two points from these two games would have felt like a good return; four points is extremely encouraging. However, it will stretch Villa's still modestly-sized squad to the limit to maintain this level of intensity in fixtures against lesser opponents. Martin O'Neill's claim after the match that his team "still find most Premier League games difficult" was not false modesty; Villa have struggled through a number of games this season which the top teams would generally expect to win easily. Villa have shown that they play full-throttle football to match any team in the League on a particular day. But when the variables of form, injury and suspension take a greater effect as they doubtless will at some stage, Villa may not have the resources to maintain that standard against lower-ranked opponents on less high-profile occasions. Arsenal remain the logical choice to finish fourth, but if they fail to arrest their current mini-slump soon, that may change.