Manchester United reduced Chelsea's Premiership lead to six points as a Wayne Rooney inspired performance earned them their sixth win in the last seven league games.
The Red Devils continue to bury the memory of their Champions League exit and are sending out a clear message that they could be the main threat to Chelsea's hopes of retaining the title in the second half of the season.
While Liverpool and Arsenal also have Europe to occupy their minds, Alex Ferguson's side have a clear run on the domestic front and on this evidence could take some stopping in the forthcoming months - especially with Rooney in such fine form.
The England striker was a constant threat to the home rearguard with his pace and power, scoring his 10th goal of the campaign and also linking up play so effectively with Ruud van Nistelrooy and Park Ji-Sung.
Paul Scholes also gave further evidence that he is back to his best and United have now taken 19 points out of a possible 21 to further ease the pressure on Ferguson.
It is now more than ten years and 21 matches since United were last beaten by Villa in the Premiership but they would seldom have had a more comfortable ride.
They dominated in terms of possession and were able to knock the ball around in confident fashion against a Villa side who gave the impression they were beaten before the game got under way.
Only Gareth Barry and Mark Delaney emerged with much credit as Villa missed the presence at the back of injured skipper Olof Mellberg.
Rooney threatened for the first time with a crossfield pass which picked out Park but his left-footed drive was blocked by Wilfred Bouma.
Villa's lone striker Milan Baros found himself one-on-one with Rio Ferdinand but he stumbled and the chance went begging.
After seven minutes the woodwork came to Villa's rescue after great vision by Rooney. His reverse pass opened up the home defence and let in Park.
His cross-shot beat Thomas Sorensen but rebounded off the post back into play and no one was on hand to convert the rebound.
United were not to be denied and two minutes later van Nistelrooy converted his 15th goal of the season to break the deadlock.
The Dutchman seized onto Darren Fletcher's through ball and was able to move goal-side of Aaron Hughes before calmly clipping the ball past Sorensen into the corner of the net.
United were finding so much space when they attacked and there were five players in the Villa box when Paul Scholes sent a flick header from Ryan Giggs' cross straight at Sorensen.
A couple of challenges involving Rooney and Gavin McCann temporarily livened up the home crowd but United continued to dominate and Sorensen had to be alert to turn over an overhead kick from the edge of the box by Van Nistelrooy.
Rooney should have at least hit the target after Ferdinand had flicked on a corner from Giggs but he drove his shot back across goal.
Villa manager David O'Leary decided to adopt a more adventurous approach in the second period and brought on Juan Pablo Angel as the second striker alongside Baros as he reverted to a 4-4-2 formation.
But after 50 minutes Rooney confirmed United's superiority by doubling their advantage.
Park was the creator with a well-weighted pass but Rooney had so much space to run into before firing a low shot past Sorensen and into the net via the far post.
Barry briefly threatened and a first-time effort from him was only just wide with United goalkeeper Edwin Van der Sar flat-footed.
Angel became the first player to be yellow-carded after 62 minutes for a touchline challenge on Ferdinand.
The woodwork came to United's rescue when Baros crashed a left-footed shot against the bar from close range after meeting a low cross from Angel.
But United ended on top with Van Nistelrooy having a shot blocked by Liam Ridgewell and heading wide from substitute Cristiano Ronaldo's cross.
