On more than one visit to Fulham in recent seasons, Sir Alex Ferguson has fielded something less than his full-strength Manchester United team and most times he has got away with it, if only by a single goal. In one way, things were no different on Saturday.

With an eye on tomorrow’s Champions League match against Lyons at Old Trafford, the manager decided to keep Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney on the bench and not to involve Michael Carrick, Ryan Giggs and Nemanja Vidic. This time, however, the strategy did not look remotely risky as United won with ease to close the gap on Arsenal to a point at the top of the Barclays Premier League.

Part of the reason is that Fulham have seldom looked as feeble as they do this season, but Owen Hargreaves, who opened the scoring with his first goal for United, is in no doubt that the increased strength of the visiting team’s squad was as significant. “When Anderson and Rooney and Ronaldo are coming on [as substitutes], it’s quite remarkable in a way, and I think that the balance of our squad could probably make the difference in the end,” the England midfield player said.

“You trust the boss, don’t you, with all the experience he has. So far this season he’s picked the right team pretty much every time, and it was a good performance from everyone. All our players are very different from each other. I think they all bring something different to the table, so, depending on how we want to play, we can play in different formations. We could play in any way, [with] anyone, and we’d probably beat you as well.”

They were too good for Fulham once Hargreaves had clipped a free kick past Antti Niemi as Moritz Volz, in the defensive wall, ducked under the ball. Danny Murphy, who had earlier tested Edwin van der Sar with a dipping volley that the United goalkeeper saved at full stretch, attempted to find a way back for his team with some probing passes and he should have done better than to put a free header from Jimmy Bullard’s free kick straight at the goalkeeper. But to most of a full house at Craven Cottage, it was only a matter of time before the visiting team added a second goal, which came after 44 minutes.

Roy Hodgson, the Fulham manager, signed the giant Brede Hangeland in January to make up for a lack of height in defence, but even he could not be everywhere and Paul Scholes bypassed him with a clever cross that allowed Park Ji Sung to head his first goal of the season, with neither Aaron Hughes nor Paul Stalteri making a convincing challenge on a man hardly noted for his aerial power.

Fulham did their best to mount a comeback, but as soon as they began to enjoy a decent share of possession, Ferguson put on Ronaldo and Rooney to prevent their defenders from relaxing too much and Simon Davies’s own goal soon after removed the faintest possibility of a comeback. It also meant that the two substitutes needed to do little more than enjoy the equivalent of a light training session.

“It was a professional performance,” Ferguson said. “I didn’t think we were special, but the pitch was lively and it was a windy day. In these sort of conditions you have to have good concentration and we did our job well. The pleasing thing for me was that I was able to use my squad. We have a massive game on Tuesday and resting Rooney and Ronaldo was vital for us. The team I picked showed great desire for the game and worked really hard.

“I don’t think Fulham were a great threat in terms of what they did inside the penalty box, but outside the box they played some good football and gave us a test that way, but scoring a goal just on half-time killed them really.”

Fulham would hardly have expected much from Saturday’s encounter, but there were few encouraging signs except for the support of the crowd, many of whom stayed behind to cheer for Hodgson. The supporters are wise enough to realise that the only hope is to back the manager as he attempts to save the club’s status with the weak squad that he inherited from Lawrie Sanchez.

It is beginning to look an impossible task. They have won only once under Hodgson in ten matches in all competitions and he admits that they must multiply that total many times in the ten games they have left.

“I think we’ll need five wins, maybe even more than that,” he said. “I can only refer to the last three home games we played - Aston Villa, West Ham, Manchester United. We have taken three points, whereas I feel we could have taken so much more. I have to take heart from the fact that the players are working hard at it and if the players continue to show the same spirit, I can only hope that this will give us results in the longer term.

“We won’t embrace the idea of relegation until such point as we can’t make it ourselves. We have 25 to 30 per cent of the season left – that’s a long part of the season. I think the players have shown that they’re working very hard to play the type of football that we think is going to get us out of it. It’ll be interesting to see, when we play the teams around us, what the difference in level is then.”

How they rated

Fulham
4-1-4-1
A Niemi 5 P Stalteri 4 B Hangeland 5 A Hughes 5 P Konchesky 4 M Volz 4 E Johnson 2 D Murphy 6 J Bullard 4 S Davies 4 B McBride 5 Substitutes: A Smertin 4 (for Murphy, 65), D Kamara (for Volz, 90min), E Nevland (for Johnson, 90). Not used: K Keller, C Bocanegra. Next: Blackburn Rovers (a).

Manchester United
4-4-2
E van der Sar 5 J O’Shea 5 R Ferdinand 6 W Brown 5 P Evra 5 Park Ji Sung 5 P Scholes 7 O Hargreaves 6 Nani 5 C Tévez 5 L Saha 5 Substitutes: C Ronaldo (for Tévez, 69min), W Rooney (for Saha, 69), Anderson (for Nani, 75). Not used: T Kuszczak, G Pique. Next: Derby County (a).

Goalscorers: Manchester United: Hargreaves 15, Park 44, Davies 72 (og)