FOR LIVERPOOL and Arsenal the thunder of the champions' distant guns Is becoming deafening. Manchester United are five points behind the leaders with a game in hand and have now gone seven games without defeat.
Even more ominously for their rivals they are playing perhaps their most vivid football of the season.
For the first time in weeks they played with the brio of the title-holders against a Nottingham Forest side who had a catastrophic day. Having peeped over the parapet with last week's improbable win over Arsenal the Premiership's bottom club bad to dive for cover yesterday and when they emerged it was to discover that Blackburn, Middlesbrough and Coventry had all won.
Their bold decision to play only three at the back and concede so much space to Ryan Giggs and David Beckham, wide on the wings, was perhaps decisive.
Afterwards their assistant manager Alan Hill suggested he had not been in agreement with player-manager Stuart Pearce, who was left with large chunks of pizza all over his face.
For most clubs the absence of such players as Roy Keane and, yesterday, Gary Pallister, would be crippling but United appeared to have made a considerable weapon out of their depleted resources.
Manager Alex Ferguson said last night: "I think Eric Cantona is about the only player who has played in all our important games. If you look at players like Beckham and Giggs, Keane and Andy Cole, they haven't really played that much, The lads are fresh and anxious to play.
In this most traditional of seasons it was fitting to see Cole twisting past two defenders to score United's fourth goal. By that time Forest looked surprised whenever they found themselves in possession. On October 5th Cole had both legs broken in a tackle by Liverpool's Neil Ruddock in a reserve game and before that he had pneumonia.
A minute before his goal we had another nice piece of nostalgia when Nigel Clough, back at his old club on loan from Manchester City, received a standing ovation when he was substituted.
Forest, as Hill admitted were outclassed. "They will win the championship if they continue to play like that," he said. "I can't see anyone stopping them. We have to win 11 out of 19."
The rampant Giggs and the more subtle Beckham were the most important payers, but Cantona was at his deep and mysterious best and Nicky Butt tackled ferociously in midfield, even when darkness fell and a frost started to spread over the City Ground like a marzipan icing.
Ferguson said: "It was a good day for us, especially looking at the other results. We played very well. I didn't think we could win as well as that here. It has always been a difficult ground for us but now we have got our concentration back after Europe."
United went ahead in the 24th minute when Beckham chipped Mark Crossley from 18 yards following Cantona's pass and Ole Solskjaer's cross. Their second goal came just before half-time and followed a cutting run by Giggs on the left.
He crossed to Beckham who passed back to Paul Scholes. When Scholes had his shot blocked Butt beat the goalkeeper with a low drive.
Solskjaer scored United's third midway through the second half after Beckham's 30-yard cross found Cantona, whose flick over the goalkeeper rebounded from the crossbar. It was Cantona again, who set up Cole for the fourth. The Forest defenders all looked like the heads of the rival consortiums fighting for the control of this club.
