The Football Association have denied that Manchester United were drawn against Aston Villa in Sunday's FA Cup third round draw by mistake. Sharp-eyed viewers claim that Sammy Nelson misread '24' for '25' - meaning Villa were paired with the Premiership champions rather than Middlesbrough - as he made the draw live on television. Footage has now appeared on YouTube highlighting the apparent error. When Nelson called out '25' later in the draw he had his fingers over the numbering, thus making verification impossible. The governing body is adamant that the draw was legitimate, insisting that the bright studio light had distorted the numbering. "It's a number 24 but because there's a line underneath the numbers, at that angle on the film it does look like a 25. It's been verified by our competitions department," a FA spokesperson told The Daily Mail. "There's no mystery and absolutely no problems with the draw. We can understand how the confusion might have taken place. We can have a look at the ways the balls have been designed but we've never had a problem with them before."Footage :
