False dawns. False dawns. Quite a few of them!
What is clear from this mauling is that City, and especially Liverpool, are head and shoulders better than Chelsea and United! Chelsea and United are evenly matched - they've have had terrible days and we've had shockers too. The league table is an accurate reflection of the quality of the top four big clubs.
All that said, I cannot overstate the importance of the next two league matches for United, particularly the next one against West Ham. If United miss out on the CL, it will be disastrous not just for the next season, but probably for several seasons to come. Chelsea already have a better spending power compared with United and with the extra cash from CL revenue and a better transfer window, the gap between the two clubs may be huge next season.
That may change if we win the Europa, but I wouldn't be too optimistic about winning the Europa when we cannot even finish in the top four in the domestic league or win any domestic cups.