Anyone considering taking the odds of 10 to 1, apparently available at one bookmaker yesterday against Manchester United winning the title is unlikely to find similar value this morning.
Or anything like it in fact, as United continue to demonstrate Alex Ferguson's insistence they will be there or thereabouts come May is a lot more than hot air.
After a performance more convincing than the result, they have risen above Everton to third place. This was their ninth game without defeat, just about secured by Ryan Giggs' goal before half-time.
David O'Leary's choice of a five-man midfield and solitary front player to take on Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Boxing Day might have ensured his team was hard to break down, but once Chelsea scored in that game Villa had never looked capable of finding an equaliser, and back on home ground the Villa manager reverted to a more attacking formation.
As expected, Carlton Cole came in alongside Juan Pablo Angel as Villa looked to avoid a fourth successive defeat, though just as important - as far as their fans were concerned - was the danger of dropping behind Birmingham City in the table for the first time this season.
But it has been nearly 10 years since Villa beat Manchester United in the league, and they struggled to match the visitors' pace and awareness from the first minute, when their young centre back Liam Ridgewell gave Wayne Rooney the time and space to get behind him and shoot, though fortunately for Aston Villa from an angle that made it a fairly straightforward save for Thomas Sorensen.
The combustible one was spending much of his time in search of a role, as he and Giggs repeatedly swapped wings, but Giggs was having no such identity crisis.
The Welshman was a constant threat and twice came close to opening the scoring in the opening 20 minutes.
His first effort, deflected over the bar by the outstretched foot of Ulises de la Cruz, might anyway have been saved by Sorensen, but he should have given the Dane no chance with the second, a drive from well inside the area after Gareth Barry slipped.
That miss notwithstanding, some of Giggs' runs and flicks were a reminder of what a fine player he can be when he puts his mind to it. No doubt the fact he is in the middle of contract negotiations is a coincidence, and one can probably be sure his agent will not mention the fact he duly opened the scoring shortly before the break.
Villa had almost pinched a goal in unlikely fashion, when Ridgewell headed against Roy Carroll's knees after the Irish goalkeeper threw a clearance against the back of Carlton Cole's head, then Giggs picked up the ball from John O'Shea and - yet again given far too much space by the retreating Villa defenders - found the target with a left-foot shot from the edge of the area.
The contrast between Manchester United's direct and incisive - if not always precise - use of possession and Villa's dithering, especially when they approached the final third of the field, must have been painful to O'Leary.
Nolberto Solano tried to offer an incisive alternative on the right, but was often ignored; and when he did get the ball his crosses were easily dealt with.
Not that Manchester United achieved fluency. Without Roy Keane - left on the bench for an hour - their football was frantic and they gave away the ball too often, though it did not stop them creating chances.
Giggs, with Darren Fletcher free and screaming for a pass, should have done far better than drive high shortly after the half-time break.
Villa gained confidence and began to exert some clumsy pressure of their own. Ferguson reacted by bringing on Keane and Cristiano Ronaldo - the Portuguese winger replacing the limping Rooney, who seemed to suffer a dead leg early in the second half.
Almost immediately, Ronaldo brushed the outside of Sorensen's net with a shot from outside the area, and it seemed United would soon make the game safe.
But Paul Scholes, so accurate of late, shot wide after being set up by Ronaldo. Aston Villa's fans continued to hope, but the equaliser never really looked like coming.
