Well, I got this one wrong but on occasions such as this, I don’t mind too much.

Fergie did make a few changes but not really what I’d expected. Rio was rested so Jones pulled back into the centre-back position with Giggs taking Jones’ place in the midfield. Lindegaard came in for De Gea. Basically, the changes weren’t particularly drastic and I think it showed in yet another very impressive performance, particularly in the first half where Fulham barely got a sniff of the ball and found themselves 3-0 down by the time the half-time whistle blew.

In the second half, Fulham finally came alive and put us under some pressure but couldn’t grab a goal despite a few close efforts and eventually, they ran out of steam which allowed us to grab another couple late on to make the scoreline so emphatic.

However, yet again, victory came at a cost. Phil Jones went off in the first half after getting a knock in the face – the seriousness of which has yet to be revealed but some reports are suggesting it could be a fractured cheekbone which could mean 4-6 weeks on the sidelines. If that is the case then it shows what a tough nut he is because he did actually play on for a while (and made a great tackle in his own box to deny Fulham a decent chance after the clash) but it was clear he was still suffering the effects and had to make way for Ashley Young to come on.

This meant that Smalling went into the centre, Valencia took the right-back slot and Young went to the right of midfield.

However, Young himself got involved in a collision which meant that he had to limp off and make way for Park and early reports suggest he will be out for 2-3 weeks.

I don’t quite know what we’ve done to deserve all of this bad luck with injuries but it is now getting beyond ridiculous and during this period where fixtures come thick and fast, we can scarcely afford to have so many players out injured. However, whilst these words might come back to bite me, I think we have been a little fortunate with the fixture list in that we seem to be playing a lot of teams that are towards the foot of the table and our next two matches are against Wigan and Blackburn – two teams currently in the relegation zone.

In any case, we keep up the pressure on City at the top and have even started to make a little bit of inroads into the goal difference and this probably bodes well for when the pendulum of luck swings our way.

A tricky fixture awaits us this evening as we make the trip to Craven Cottage to take on one of those strange sides that are often cannon fodder away from home but prove incredibly difficult to beat when on their home turf.

In fact, we have only managed to beat them three times in our last nine visits there (our last victory coming almost four years ago now) and they have beaten us twice… the other four were obviously draws.

They have been beaten there already this season by Everton and Tottenham but have beaten Liverpool and held City to a draw (although I seem to remember that City were 2-0 up and cruising in that game before they took their foot off the gas and allowed Fulham to get back into the match – although Fulham clearly deserve credit for taking advantage of the situation and battling to the end).

What makes this one a little harder to predict is the feeling that Fergie will probably make a few changes this evening. He has stuck with the same team for two games running which is unusual in itself – three on the bounce would almost be unheard of.

Given that Hernandez played half an hour against QPR over the weekend, I’d say it’s 99% certain that he will start tonight should Fergie go with the 4-4-2 type formation but it is the midfield areas that are hard to predict. The Valencia, Carrick, Jones and Nani quartet has looked fantastic in our last two games but I have a feeling that Fergie might decide to rest Jones now and perhaps bring in Park. Ashley Young might even get the nod over Valencia.

Due to injuries, the back four probably picks itself at the moment so I’d expect Smalling, Evans, Rio and Evra with De Gea in goal.

As for Fulham, well, there does seem to be a bit of a changing of the guard there since Jol took over as manager and whilst I hear that Bobby Zamora is fit to play, rumours that there have been a fall-out between player and manager won’t go away and the striker is not guaranteed a place tonight.

One player that will surely be eager to impress tonight is Bryan Ruiz and it will be interesting to see how he gets on.

Anyway, prediction time. A tough game is expected and we’ll do extremely well to come back with the three points and even if we do win, I don’t think it will be by many and I do expect Fulham to score.

The bet is 2 points Both Teams to Score @ 1.91 with Coral.

It’s back to the nitty gritty of the Premier League this afternoon as we welcome back Mark Hughes and his Fulham side.

It must be said that this fixture traditionally means three points for United and in some of our recent games at Old Trafford, the scoreline has been quite convincing for us (we’ve won the last two 3-0, for example).

With one hand on the Premier League title, nothing less than three points will suffice this afternoon either and under normal circumstances, I would be very confident of an easy victory here.

However, with this game being sandwiched between the two massive Champions League games against Chelsea, I do have a little concern that focus might not be 100% here this afternoon. I’m probably doing the players a disservice here and it is probably just my own natural pessimism striking again (I do tend to get like this as we edge towards the end of a season which promises so much) – almost all of the players in our squad know what it takes to win a Premier League and will surely be fully focused on the job at hand today.

Quite who those players will be remains to be seen, however, as Fergie himself might be tempted to shuffle the pack a bit with one eye on Tuesday’s return leg against Chelsea.

We know for a fact that Rooney won’t be playing this afternoon so that could well mean a Berbatov/Hernandez partnership up front but Michael Owen has been fit to comeback for some time now and could get a recall.

Anderson came through his comeback game very well (scored twice) for the reserves on Thursday evening and could even make a re-appearance this afternoon.

In fact, it does appear that Rafael and Fletcher are the only players not available through injury at this moment in time so Fergie has plenty to choose from. Apparently O’Shea is fit again after a recent injury problem and so could take the right-back spot.

What all this suggests, though, is a vastly tweaked side and when this has happened, the performance has sometimes appeared disjointed and we can struggle.

As for Fulham, it does look like they might be in a position to welcome back Damien Duff after injury which will be a boost for them. Their overall form has been good of late but away from home, they are still struggling for wins (their last away win was in December last year – against Stoke and before that… well… it’s a long time ago). However, they have picked up a few draws and on the occasions where they have been beaten, it has only been by the odd goal – they remain a tough nut to crack.

I’d much rather have some idea of the team sheet prior to putting a bet down on here but if we play to our potential then we should have enough to keep Fulham out and we should have enough to score a couple ourselves.

The price on the Asian Handicap is too good to refuse here so the bet is going to be…

2 points on Manchester United -1.5AH @ 2.42 with Bet365.

Craven Cottage has always been a happy hunting ground for United until recently. Our last two visits have seen us lose 2-0 in 2008/09 and then 3-0 last season although it has to be said that that 3-0 defeat was in December during the horrendous spell when we barely had a defender to field.

Still, Fulham have been a very decent outfit under Roy Hodgson in recent years but Hodgson has, of course, now left for Liverpool and has been replaced by Mark Hughes who is no doubt still finding his feet in his new job.

It’s going to be interesting to see who Fergie plays for this one. Rooney apparently has a stomach bug and hasn’t travelled and so will we see Fergie revert to some kind of 4-5-1 or a 4-4-2 with Berby and Chicharito/Owen upfront?

Fulham’s biggest miss is likely to be keeper Schwarzer.

It’s still a bit too early in the season to know exactly what to make of this one but I do think our recent Craven Cottage jinx will come to an end today and we’ll be leaving with the three points this time.

The bookies think it will be a low-scoring game and it is difficult to argue with that although a 2-1 win for United would not appear to be an unthinkable scoreline. Personally, I think we have a 2-0 in us here but I think a safish bet might be the -1 Asian Handicap.

The bet is 4 points Manchester United -1 AH @ 2.05 with Bet365.