This result may have temporarily brushed Fulham's plights under the carpet, at least for a couple of days, but one thing that cannot be disguised is that United won't finish in the top four. With Liverpool thumping Arsenal and Tottenham edging out Everton over the weekend, United simply had to win this one just to stay in touch with the sides currently above them. This draw leaves United languishing in 7th - four points off sixth-placed Everton, six off fifth-placed Spurs and (more tellingly) nine off fourth-placed Liverpool. United still have to play both Liverpool and Everton this season, so you could make the case that a top four place is still in their hands, but it'd be a very weak argument. Liverpool are hitting the sort of form that suggests it will take a very sudden (and very big) decline in form for them to be dislodged now while Everton have beaten United once this season. It would take an eternal optimist to envisage United finishing in the top four this term and, if they don't, a lack of Champions League football could have big ramifications. So big, that even next season may not witness United returning to the top of English football.
Joseph is an accredited football journalist and has interviewed nearly all of the current 20 Barclay's Premier League managers. He is also a correspondent for Bleacher Report and has written for Caught Offside and Give Me Football.
