3 Mar 2009

United and Spurs facing very different futures

6:00 am on 3 March 2009

Manchester United are targeting winning three more trophies this season and the longer-term future at Old Trafford is looking extremely bright, too.

United's penalty shoot-out victory over Tottenham Hotspur in the goalless League Cup final keeps them on course for their most successful season, one that could eclipse 1998-99 when they won the Champions League, the Premier League and FA Cup.

Spurs meanwhile are now concentrating on Premier League survival after being among England's Big Five, along with United, Arsenal, Liverpool and Everton, from the 1960s through to the 1990s

United's manager Alex Ferguson plays down all talk of a "quintuple" trophy haul saying United could go to Fulham in the FA Cup on Sunday and get beaten "by a deflected shot off someone's backside".

However his squad has such depth he could afford to rest the likes of Wayne Rooney, Gary Neville and Edwin van der Sar for yesterday's final.

Instead put his faith in youngsters such as third-choice keeper Ben Foster, who he predicts will eventually be England's number one goalkeeper "for years to come".