Manchester United's defeat at Southampton on Monday night was bliss for those whose job it is to tell us the Premiership is the finest league in football. It sustained the illusion that in Carling-land everybody is more or less equal. The truth is that United have long since disappeared over the horizon with their sponsored backsides on fire.

Southampton deserve all the credit they got for ambushing the champions for a third consecutive year but nobody can seriously argue that it made much difference to the title race.

Some encouragement may be taken from the fact that United have lost one more game than they had at the corresponding point last season, but on a night when they wasted more chances than Jamie Blandford it was impossible to mistake the look of amused contentment on Alex Ferguson's face. Give to the needy, and all that.

In Italy Internazionale and Juventus are grappling over the Serie A title and in Spain the ancient struggle between Real Mardid and Barcelona is fiercer than an Andalucian summer. In England the form of Chelsea and Liverpool is much too undulating for them to be considered championship challengers while the resurgent Rovers of Blackburn are probably not as good as Roy Hodgson's coaching skills might imply.

It's beyond dispute now that the upper echelons of English football are dividing into three tiers: a famous five, a struggling seven and a dirty dozen or so of clubs stuck on the bungee ride between Premiership and Nationwide League.

The three teams promoted from the First Division last year will probably go straight back down and the three that went down are on their way back up. Barnsley, Bolton and Crystal Palace fill three of the four bottom Premiership places. Below the fold Middlesbrough, Nottingham Forest and Sunderland look the strongest candidates for promotion.

In the supposed utopia they aspire to, the 20 teams are actually strung out like a Grand National field. Southampton's ground holds 15,000; United's can pack in over 56,000. United have to choose between Philip Neville and Denis Irwin at left-back; Southampton have Francis Benali.

Loathing Man Utd was starting to become a national sub-culture, part of the British intolerance towards success. But even that is wearing off now that United are less combative and self-regarding than in the days of Paul Ince and Eric Cantona. Roy Keane's absence helps. Only the pea-hearted could fail to admire how United's youngsters bonded at The Dell. Ryan Giggs's early promise is being gloriously fulfilled. He rushes from defensive goal-mouth scramble into rapturous attacking flourish. This is what Ferguson means when he talks of Giggs's "bravery" and selflessness.

Courtesy of Rupert Murdoch, Premier League clubs have just completed the most ferocious spending cycle in British sporting history. The effects are more patchy than the lotus eaters would have us believe. Imagine any English team below United playing Inter or Juventus, Barcelona or Real Madrid, home and away this season. One win in four would be about the best the Premiership might end up with.

These are emotive days for United, who have scored more league goals than any of their rivals and conceded fewer. Yesterday was the fourth anniversary of Sir Matt Busby's death. On February 6th, the day before United play Bolton at Old Trafford, a service in Manchester Cathedral will mark the 40th anniversary of the Munich air disaster in which 21 people were killed. Forty years on the spirit of the Busby Babes is replicated in Ferguson's zestful side.

This year's championship has already mapped out its route, but there are grounds for thinking United's hegemony may be weakened next autumn. As many as 13 of the current squad can expect to be in full-blooded action at this summer's World Cup.

They are Peter Schmeichel (Denmark), Henning Berg, Ronny Johnsen and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (Norway), Jordi Cruyff (Holland, possibly) and the England contingent of Gary Pallister, the Nevilles, Paul Scholes, David Beckham, Nicky Butt, Andy Cole and Teddy Sheringham. By the time they get back in July, pre-season training will already have started.

Fatigue, and trips to The Dell, might be the only thing that can stop them. At least poor Giggs, a Welshman, will get a summer break from all that rushing around.