According to Scholes, the Old Trafford outfit are not playing anywhere near their best and must be rectified in the second half of the campaign.

“The Christmas period couldn’t have gone any better in terms of results and we are still winning matches, which is the most important thing, but we have not been playing that well,” said the 28-year-old.

“We have not been firing on all cylinders and hopefully we will play a lot better in the second half of the season.

“The championship race is so close now there is no room to drop points, so you have to keep winning.

“It will start getting even more serious once we get January and February out of the way, so we want to try and stay in the hunt until then and hopefully press on from there.”

United’s pursuit of a ninth Premiership title will briefly be put on hold when they travel to Aston Villa for an eye-catching FA Cup third-round tie, although the importance of Wednesday’s trip to Bolton may be reflected in Sir Alex Ferguson’s team selection.

Irish full-back John O’Shea has still not recovered from the hamstring injury which forced him to miss last Sunday’s win at Middlesbrough, so United will probably field the same back four.

However, some of the men who secured victory over Everton on Boxing Day – - the likes of Nicky Butt, David Bellion and Diego Forlan – could be given a run-out as United look to advance against David O’Leary’s vastly-improved side.

In the aftermath of last month’s 4-0 hammering of Villa at Old Trafford the game would have been viewed as little more than a training ground run-out.

Since then though Villa have registered 10 points out of 12 in the league and advanced to the semi-finals of the Carling Cup with an excellent home win over Chelsea.

“Villa have really picked up since then,” said Scholes.

“I’m not sure the last match was really a 4-0 game because they did quite well in the second half.

“They are starting to win games now, seem to have got on a bit of a roll and are really pushing up the table, so we know it will be a very difficult game.”

At the same stage of the competition two years ago, United recovered from a two-goal deficit in the final 13 minutes to record a stunning 3-2 victory.

Dutch marksman Ruud van Nistelrooy came off the bench to score the last two and seal United’s place in the fourth round, where they came unstuck at Middlesbrough.

The Old Trafford outfit went one stage further last term, only to fail dismally against Arsenal, a performance that drew an infamous boot-kicking reaction from Ferguson that had consequences for David Beckham’s future at the club.

It is not one of the greatest FA Cup memories of Scholes’ career. He prefers to look back at the 1999 Wembley triumph over Newcastle for his highlight.

“That was my best moment because I scored,” he said.

“It was great for me and the team because it was part of our treble season.

“When you think about days like that, it just reminds you what a huge tournament the FA Cup is.

“People have knocked the competition in recent years but it is still special to us. We all want to be there at the end of the season picking up another winners’ medal.”