IF Manchester United are to win the Premiership after three seasons of London domination . . . as now seems increasingly likely . . . they will look back fondly on a windy Saturday lunchtime down by the Thames and a game they could so easily have lost.

The reason they won it instead was the positive thinking that has always characterised the club's approach down the years and will make them the preferred choice as champions of most neutrals.

Bringing on the former Fulham hero Louis Saha for Michael Carrick meant they had six attacking players on for the final 25 minutes and it was one of them, Cristiano Ronaldo, who silenced the inevitable booing with an individual goal fit to win any game just before the end. Collecting the ball in his own half, he pulled away from two defenders and skipped into the penalty area between two more before driving in a 16th goal of the season.

Even then Fulham felt they should have had a penalty in added time for Edwin van der Sar's clumsy challenge on Heidar Helguson. It led to an apoplectic reaction on the touchline by their manager Chris Coleman. Fined �2,500 recently for comments after a 1-1 draw with Tottenham, he laid into the referee Peter Walton, claiming: "The referee had no excuses. He was perfectly positioned, which was the one thing he got right all afternoon. It's why the big clubs don't want video analysis, because it evens things up. In games like this you need a strong referee and we didn't get one."

Unexpectedly, it was the scoreline United had to even up after Fulham had made much the brighter start and taken a deserved lead in the 16th minute. Alexei Smertin and Simon Davies, two members of a midfield moving the ball around smartly and accurately, had already gone close before Davies played a pass to Michael Brown and chased the return into the penalty area. Either Van der Sar or the normally uncomplicated Nemanja Vidic should have cleared but the ball rolled out to Brian McBride, who scored with an angled drive off the far post despite Rio Ferdinand's desperate attempt to clear.

Ronaldo's drive across the face of goal 10 minutes later was the first hint of a threat from the leaders, who required a defensive error to force an equaliser just before the half-hour. Moritz Volz failed to deal with Vidic's punt forward, allowing Ryan Giggs to play Rooney down the left and then set off for the far post, where he met the cross by volleying past a startled Jan Lastuvka with the outside of his left foot. Only then did Fulham lose their belief for a while, during which Patrice Evra and the outstanding Giggs might have finished off swift breaks.

Coleman's side swiftly recovered, fuelled perhaps by a sense of injustice that Ferdinand had not been sent off before half-time for raising both hands to Tomasz Radzinski's face. Van der Sar made two excellent saves from Davies and in between them, Radzinski's header from Brown's cross came back off the crossbar. Playing Wes Brown at right-back instead of Gary Neville, apparently to combat the opposition's supposed height advantage, proved a rare error on Alex Ferguson's part, all the more so given that Fulham had dropped Zat Knight and Heidar Helguson.

Ferguson demonstrated a surer touch in his substitutions, replacing Carrick with Saha in what became virtually a 4-2-4 formation during the exciting last period.

Ronaldo and Giggs both had chances before the Portuguese winger, now on the left, sent his team nine points clear of Chelsea, having played one game more. Being knocked out of the Carling Cup by Southend will hardly seem too unbearable a fate as United watch this afternoon's final. With another early kick-off at Liverpool on Saturday, before Chelsea go to Portsmouth, they could stretch the lead to something even more daunting.

It was all rather harsh on Fulham, who have kept their heads just above the relegation waters all season since losing 5-1 at Old Trafford on the opening day. Coleman thought he might have seen the new champions that afternoon and has not subsequently changed his mind despite yesterday's flawed performance. "I'm very proud of my players and I imagine Alex would agree they shouldn't have got anything from the game." His opposite number did so, a little surprisingly. "It's the most difficult game we've had all season, " Ferguson said. "But a very, very significant result."