Second place now within sight as United close gap on rivals

United's impressive win over Tottenham cemented our position in the top four as we closed the gap on City and Chelsea this weekend. 

The title race (if it ever was a 'race') looks over with Chelsea six points clear with a game in hand, but United are right in the scrap for fourth place and can now even target a runners up finish. 

The win gives United a six point cushion over our vanquished opponents, who are level on points with Southampton in sixth.
Liverpool are five points behind us, with a trip to Swansea to come tomorrow night, ahead of our meeting next Sunday lunchtime at Anfield, a vital clash that is the very definition of a six-pointer.

Brendan Rodgers side are unbeaten in the league in 2015 but that run has to come to an end at some point and United will head into the vital fixture brimming with vigour and confidence. 

We remain one point behind Arsene Wenger's Gunners, but we now have the neighbours in our sights as we trail our second placed cross town rivals by just two points, following their 1-0 loss at Burnley on Saturday.

Sure, there will be many more twists and turns and our place in the Champions League is far from secure yet, but if United continue to produce performances like Sunday's between now and the end of the season, we will take some stopping. 

The home derby with City comes hot on the heels of the trip to Anfield (with a home match against Aston Villa in between), but the ragged champions are all but out of the title race and are staring down the barrel of European elimination.

United travel to Anfield and then host Aston Villa before the neighbour's visit to OT, and should we collect six points from those two games, victory over City on 12th April could put us second.

Having lost four consecutive derbies, United have a score to settle with City and Manuel Pellegrini's side will not relish their trip to MI6.

Looking ahead is all very well, but these last nine league games are all cup finals in themselves but it's fair to say that United are looking up rather than down over our shoulders in the final weeks of the season.