Manchester United it is then for a repeat of the 1994 League Cup final.

Villa will head into their 2010 re-match to settle the destination of the first major trophy of the English season with the dismissive words of Arsene Wenger ringing in their ears.

Arsenal’s manager dismissed Martin O’Neill’s team as long-ball specialists after this goalless draw at Villa Park, an unnecessary slur at the end of a pulsating contest which ultimately neither side deserved to lose.

The Gunners struck the woodwork twice in their two most threatening moments while, with perfect balance, Villa allowed two glaring opportunities to win the game elude their grasp.

It leaves O’Neill’s team on the outside looking in on the most congested pursuit of a top four finish we have ever seen in the domestic game, with the statistics beginning to mount a case against the claret and blues claims for serious consideration.

This was their fourth Premier League game without a goal and, while all six teams above them have broken 40 and beyond in their scoring columns, Villa have yet to reach 30.

Arsenal have scored nearly twice as many, feeding Wenger’s clearly low opinion of the way O’Neill is attempting to establish the club among the elite.

The Gunners boss said: “We know when you come here what you get and we were not disappointed. Villa play a very efficient English game with long balls and are very physical.

“They did it very well and are a good side when counter-attacking.”

It brought a waspish response from O’Neill – an “appalling insult” he called it – but as is so often the case, the truth of the dispute lay somewhere between the two polar opinions.

There is no doubt that of the seven clubs deemed to be seriously bidding for the all-important top four places, O’Neill’s outfit are viewed as the least sophisticated, the provincial upstarts exploiting a deeply unfashionable style.

But while there have been occasions when the kind of criticism levelled at the manager by Wenger would have been justified, this was not one of them.

Sure, Villa looked to the familiar strengths of getting about their business quickly and robustly, moving the ball wide with pace to unhinge Arsenal with a string of menacing crosses but there was more to their performance than the ‘hoof it and hope’ label the Frenchman attached to them.

There was craft and guile in their work as well, particularly from James Milner and Stiliyan Petrov in midfield, some thrilling wing play and terrific resistance by Richard Dunne, James Collins and goalkeeper Brad Friedel when Arsenal menaced their goal.

In fact, this was Villa doing what they do best, attacking with real purpose and pace while defending tenaciously and, although it did not bring them the breakthrough victory they were seeking to re-establish a top four challenge, it went some way to erase the image of the team swamped by Arsenal at the Emirates before failing to score against Liverpool and West Ham.

Perhaps it was inevitable that after two cup games which rewarded Villa Park punters with 15 goals and two victories, this one would end goalless. Indeed it was the second Premier League scoreless stalemate on the patch in successive nights, but this contest had much more to entertain the neutral than the gruelling struggle between Wolves and Liverpool 24 hours earlier.

As much as Wenger reckoned that he knew precisely what to expect from his opponents, the same could be argued in reverse. Arsenal continue to try to pass their way through the eye of a needle and all too often saw their complex, soft touch approaches come to nothing in the face of the home side’s uncompromising defence.

For Villa, the night could have been sub-titled as a tale of two wingers.

Stewart Downing has generally made a fine impression in his first months at the club but the honeymoon was over in this game, after wasting his team’s two best chances when arriving late at the back post.

The first, after 34 minutes, was the more difficult, Downing stretching to take a ball dipping in front of him on the half volley that was hoisted over the top. The second, during a stirring second-half spell from Villa, was less forgiveable, a glaring miss with a header from point-blank range bang in front of an anguished, disbelieving Holte End.

But here’s the good news. Both chances were laid on by his fellow wide player Ashley Young, a figure who has retained the faith of O’Neill this season because of his unquestioned industry even though his football appeared to have missed the sprinkle of magic dust.

Not any more. Young tortured Gael Clichy in as good a display as we have seen from him throughout the season and, if this does signal a return to the electric form which made him such an irresistible force a year ago, then Villa will surely not remain scoreless in the league for much longer.

How his colleagues failed to take advantage of the seemingly endless stream of quality crosses which flew across Arsenal’s back-line was one of the game’s mysteries. O’Neill would be willing to bet handsomely that if Young serves up anything like it again in the coming weeks, the opposition will not be so fortunate.

But Villa will accept that they rode their luck too, in two moments of high individual brilliance which, for all the qualities of their key players, they do not yet possess.

The run from Cesc Fabregas in first-half added time, which took him sailing effortlessly by Petrov and then between Collin and Luke Young, raised fears that he was about to repeat his single-handed destruction of Villa from Christmas weekend. But the right-foot finish angled across Friedel clipped the foot of the post, before the rebound was smothered and cleared.

That dazzle was then reproduced by Andrei Arshavin as the game headed into the final 20 minutes. His electrifying pace burned off Carlos Cuellar and then took him skipping by Collins forcing Friedel to make a fine block at the scampering Russian’s feet.

The ball bounced clear and was touched by Fabregas to Tomas Rosicky, but his rising drive smacked against the bar before being scrambled away.