Another own goal helped ten-man Manchester United salvage a draw at Aston Villa to keep the heat on league leaders Chelsea. Villa opened the scoring in the 18th minute when the impressive Stewart Downing crossed for Carlos Cuellar to head into the net – a move the duo had rehearsed minutes earlier.
Cuellar's beard makes him look a little like Villa's 80s centre forward Peter Withe and the Spanish defender seems to share the Villa Park legend's heading prowess. Another Villa defender got on the score sheet after 22 minutes, but this time the goal brought no celebrations from players in claret and blue; the unlucky James Collins kneeing a Ryan Giggs volley past goalkeeper Brad Friedel.
Own goals seem to be minimising the impact of Ronaldo's departure for United this season – they have 'scored' ten so far this season. But the Red Devils' fortunes took a dive just before the half-hour mark when Nani was red-carded for an airborne two-footed lunge on Stiliyan Petrov.
The dismissal provoked a surge of energy from the black-shirted United players; Michael Carrick and Darren Fletcher both going close. Friedel also needed to rush off his line to prevent Wayne Rooney from scoring just before half-time.
The England man's energy, technique and hunger continue to typify his season and tonight helped disguise the fact that they were down to ten men. Only Friedel's fingertips stopped him scoring from 25 yards when the action resumed. Villa's best second-half effort came from a low James Milner shot which Edwin Van der Saar stooped low to save; if they had a player as good as Rooney they surely would have made their one-man advantage
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