Wayne Rooney scored with his first touch to set the seal on a 3-0 win for Manchester United against Fulham that sent them five points clear at the top of the Premier League.
United never looked like losing their advantage once Mark Schwarzer had let Paul Scholes' early piledriver squirm home.
Dimitar Berbatov added another before Rooney tapped home Park Ji-Sung's cross-shot two minutes after his introduction as a second-half substitute, which was more than enough as Edwin van der Sar kept a 14th consecutive Premier League clean sheet at the other end.
Sir Alex Ferguson believes the strength of his United squad should prevent a repeat of their 1998 misery.
Eleven years ago, the Red Devils opened up a 12-point lead on Arsenal but succumbed to a mountain of late-season injuries to allow Arsene Wenger's men to clinch the Premier League title.
"You can never be dead sure but it is fair to say Chelsea have an uphill fight now," reflected Ferguson.
"Things can happen. We were 12 points clear of Arsenal in 1998 but we got a lot of injuries and lost the league.
"Now we can cope with it, like we have done in the last few weeks.
"That is the change at this club. We have such a big squad we can make changes."
Fulham boss Roy Hodgson knew his team would be up against it once they lost Andy Johnson and Paul Konchesky to injury before the game.
And, while Hodgson felt his team could have done better at times, he had no complaints at the outcome.
"The first goal was a poor one for us to concede but we were beaten by a better team," said Hodgson.
"What happened was no disgrace. Manchester United are a very good team with a great chance of winning the Premier League."
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