Sir Alex stays upbeat

Sir Alex Ferguson was far from despondent after United were held to a goalless draw at Aston Villa.

After watching Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal all drop points on Saturday, the Reds were held to a battling stalemate by Martin O'Neill's side, but Sir Alex did not see the draw as a missed opportunity.

The manager told MUTV: "Obviously we haven't taken advantage (of other results), but in context of the difficulties of the three teams we're talking about - Liverpool, Chelsea and ourselves - I think we're the team that's had the best result today.

"At the end of the day I'm satisfied in the effort the players made. It was a very determined and aggressive Aston Villa team. They really set out to make it difficult for us, but we handled that well. Today has proved that Aston Villa are a much-improved side with a lot of consistency about them, and I really think they could be in the top four."

The United boss felt that his side had done enough to warrant all three points, but reserved praise for the way Villa defended resolutely to keep United at bay.

"It was a great effort against a very determined Aston Villa team who defended for their lives, and you saw towards the end of the match that they were just hanging on," he said.

"We created the chances in the game, Villa didn't really have any. Wayne and Ji-sung Park both had good chances. Our possession was good and we had so much pressure, but in fairness to them they hung in."