So you basically just stated in the second paragraph we shouldn't over/underrate our team and then you go on to underrate us in the last after one disappointing result. Of course there is a chance that your prediction becomes true but the probability is not very high. We won 14/18 points since the restart and our wins were not even close at all. Palace lost their last 5 (3/18 since restart), West Ham got 7/18 and Leicester is in a very bad form with 6/18 since restart, losing to Bournemouth 4-1 just yesterday (and losing Soyuncu with a red). And you really think our position is that bad that "our rivals have to screw it up really bad for us to get there"? I would say right now we are definitely favourites with Chelsea to secure the last 2pending top 4 positions. But of course it is not a given that we will get it.
My opinion isn't reactive, I felt this way for a while. Today's result didn't cause me to think this way, it did however make me more vocal about it.
We don't know for sure but Williams and Shaw could be out versus Palace, meaning Zaha will face Dalot. We do have the quality in our squad to beat Palace, but once again our top 4 rivals play before us once again. If Chelsea and Leicester drop points, will United take advantage of the situation, or fail like we have done on every opportunity so far this season? On paper we should've beaten Southampton aswell, but didn't.
West Ham are finding some form recently with Antonio scoring 4, they pulled off a win against Chelsea, and West Ham has in recent times been a pain in the arse for United. Moyes will be motivated aswell obviously. Out of our last 4 games against West Ham, we have won one time. They are not a team to be taken lightly and it's not an easy fixture at all.
Leicester, regardless of form, will be a tough game. They will realise what's at stake and play their hearts out.
I'm just not confident of a top 4 finish. I would however love to be proven wrong, I want this club to suceed, but it feels like we have a long way to go.
It will be interesting to see the palace game purely for the players reaction, I hope to see a world-class, determined performance but we'll see.