First-half goals from Dimitar Berbatov and Antonio Valencia saw United make light work of the Cottagers as they begin a pivotal week that includes Tuesday's Champions League quarter-final return with Chelsea and next weekend's eagerly-anticipated FA Cup semi-final against Manchester City.

"They could win everything," Hughes said.

"They are ticking games off and when you get to this stage of the season, they have been here, understand what needs to happen and what it takes."

However, United manager Sir Alex Ferguson was less impressed.

"It was a result but I wouldn't say it was a job well done at all," he said.

"We were a bit casual and lackadaisical."

The heat is on Manchester City ahead of tonight's trip to Liverpool after both Chelsea and Tottenham won in the battle for Champions League football.

However, Chelsea were less than rampant in edging out Wigan 1-0 as Fernando Torres' search for a goal continued. Florent Malouda got the winner at Stamford Bridge.

Peter Crouch put his Madrid nightmare behind him to score twice in Tottenham's win over Stoke.

Crouch, who was sent off early in Spurs' 4-0 Champions League defeat to Real, got the opening goal to quieten murmurs among the home fans then added a second before Luka Modric got the decisive third.

Manager Harry Redknapp was delighted with his striker, and said: "It was the response I wanted and expected after Real Madrid. I was pleased for Crouchie. I wasn't sure whether to play and him and I wasn't sure what reaction he would get from the crowd.

"Sometimes they can turn on you when they think you're to blame for something but they were great with him and they made a great atmosphere today. He was okay. He wasn't nervous going into the game."

At the other end, the pressure intensified as West Ham and Wolves both suffered heavy defeats.

West Ham went down 3-0 to Bolton at the Reebok Stadium, while Wolves lost by the same scoreline at home to Everton.

Wolves boss Mick McCarthy believes his side now need to win three of their last six games to stay up.

He said: "We're in the bottom three at the moment so we are not one of the best teams in the league.

"But we will keep going until May 22."

Hammers boss Avram Grant remained defiant after seeing his side lose to a brace from Daniel Sturridge and a further strike from Lee Chung-yong.

"I believe we can stay in this league," he said.

"It is not every day you see our team perform as badly as they did in the first half.

"We have shown in the past we know how to recover and I am sure we will do so again in the last six games."

But there was better news for West Brom who dragged Sunderland into the battle with a 3-2 win at the Stadium of Light to make it seven games unbeaten under Roy Hodgson.

Hodgson now believes three more points will be enough for his team.

"I think we will need 42 points, so 39 is a damn sight closer to 42 than 32, that's for sure," he said.

"But on the other hand, I won't be opening any bottles of champagne until such time as the 42-point mark is reached - and even then, it might not be mathematical."

Blackburn could not move clear of trouble as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Birmingham.

The result, a third straight draw for Rovers, left boss Steve Kean frustrated.

"I wanted to take a big leap but we're taking little steps and we just have to keep chipping away," he said.