Here’s our report from Craven Cottage. And that’s all from me. Thanks for reading!
Full-time: Fulham 1-2 Manchester United
And that’s that. At the end of a terrific, hard-fought game, Fulham taste defeat undeservedly but Garnacho has announced his arrival with a match-winning cameo. A terrifically well-worked goal, too, he and Eriksen staying ice-cool under pressure to slickly prise open Fulham’s backline.
GOAL! Fulham 1-2 Manchester United (Garnacho 93)
United win it in the last minute of added-time. Again United attack down the left, this time Eriksen charging forward and playing a one-two-three with Garnacho, who is suddenly through on goal. The Argentinian prods home an calm left-foot finish to decide the game!
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90 mins: Casemiro pokes the ball into the box, Ream flicks it on and Fernandes meets it at the back to to send a header across the face of goal. It’s begging for an attacker to tap it in, but there’s no one there and Fernandes appears to take that as a personal insult. Cairney is replaced by Onomah.
88 mins: Every United attack today seems to have gone through Shaw. This time the left-back lifts an early cross into McTominay on the edge of the box. This time the midfielder gets his header right, but he’s too far out and Leno saves. Fulham break through James, whose low cross from the right is turned behind by Lindelof at full stretch.
86 mins: Palhinha, magnificent today, breaks up a promising United attack with a ferocious sliding tackle on Rashford and wins a free-kick for his side to boot.
82 mins: Some very tidy passing out from the back from United before McTominay sells Palhinha a dummy and switches play to Garnacho. He frees Shaw on the overlap and the fullback’s cross picks out McTominay for what would be a glorious team goal … but the midfielder sends a free header wide. Great chance!
80 mins: Fulham win a free-kick on the right. Pereira takes and, seeing Palhinha pulling away, gives his teammate a free header – but the Portuguese misjudges and send the ball well over.
78 mins: James again escapes down the right, this time electing not to beat Martinez but instead going for the early cross, belted away by the backtracking Lindelof.
74 mins: Garnacho picks up the ball on the left and drives dangerously into the box, falling under the challenge of Decordova-Reid. No penalty. A minute later, he does the same thing again, this time without the penalty claim. He’s livened United up.
71 mins: James streak down the right leaving Martinez for dead, but doubles back rather than crossing and his eventual ball into the box is cut out. United send on Garnacho for Martial.
69 mins: Martial drops deep to gather the ball and looks to pick out Rashford who is haring down the left, but Fulham’s defence shuts the door on him. Casemiro picks up the ball and heaves a long ball back towards Martial, who watches forlornly as it sails over his head.
65 mins: Fulham are hungry for a second. A spell of prolonged pressure culminates with Casemiro heading a Robinson cross over his own bar.
Goal! Fulham 1-1 Manchester United (James 61)
Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Fulham spring forward when Robinson’s early ball to Willian sets the Brazilian scampering free down the left. He carries, carries, then waits until just the right moment to release to the overlapping Cairney, who low left-foot cross invites the former United man to tap home. He obliges.
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59 mins: Narrative alert: Daniel James comes on for Harry Wilson.
58 mins: Another Fulham attack makes it as far as Vinicius before fizzling out. They relaunch down the right, from where Pereira whips in a great deep cross that Malacia sees out for a corner.
55 mins: Change for United – Elanga goes off, McTominay on.
51 mins: Wilson burrows down the right and squeezes in a low cross towards Vinicius at the back post. He spins and batters a left-foot shot but it’s straight at De Gea, who repels it wide. The corner is worked to Cairney, who floats in a cross to Ream at the back stick. The defender meets it powerfully but again De Gea is there is palm the ball over.
50 mins: Martial works Leno again with a 20-yard snapshot, but it’s too close to the keeper who gathers easily.
48 mins: Fernandes looks to the inside left channel and slips in Elaga, whose early low effort is well saved by Leno. Rashford follows up but his shot can’t get through a wall of defensive bodies.
47 mins: Willian feeds Vinicius on the left, and the Brazilian’s low cross is cut out by Lindelof before it can reach Pereira. When the corner comes in, the ball is half-cleared and breaks to Cairney on the edge of the box, but he slices wildly over.
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46 mins: And we’re back under way. Fulham kick off and attempt a couple of route-one attacks, both curtailed by Lindelof.
Kari Tulinius writes: “Manchester United players are oddly static. If memory serves, Ten Hag’s Ajax were always in motion, but United stand around a lot. Though it might be because the United players are conserving energy for the World Cup.”
Half-time reading, from elsewhere in the Premier League:
Half-time: Fulham 0-1 Manchester United
And that’s the last action of a lively half. Fulham have showed lots of attacking ambition without truly creating much. United have picked their moments to strike and could be two up. Get the kettle on.
45 mins: Shaw, probably United’s best player this half, marauds forward and is tugged back by Palhinha, who escapes a booking. Then Martinez sweeps the ball forward to Elanga, whose smart backheel finds Fernandes on the corner of the box. He squares for Eriksen who times his arrival perfectly but, from the penalty spot, sends a simple finish the wrong side of the post
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41 mins: United mount a decent attack, Rashford laying back to Shaw whose clipped first-time cross find Martial, but the striker’s glanced header flashes just over.
40 mins: Lindelof, spooked by the Fulham press, passes the ball straight out of play. Fulham work it forward again but the attack breaks down with Vinicius who, not for the first time, fails to hold the ball up.
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38 mins: Fernandes tries a silly flick in his own half, Fulham pounce and Pereira swings in a nicely shaped cross which is seen out for another corner. United are officially under the cosh.
34 mins: Another dangerous Willian cross is headed away by a United centre-half. My kingdom for a Serbian target man. Then Robinson hurtles down the same flank to win a corner – Malacia clearly being targeted here – which is hung up for a blazing volley that Willian shanks high and wide.
33 mins: Willian, Fulham’s best attacker so far, wriggles away down the left once again and fires in a cross which Martinez heads clear. As Rashford tears away upfield, Reid is booked for stopping him in his tracks.
30 mins: Eriksen picks out Rashford on te left, who nudges the ball infield, where a hole has opened up in Fulham defence. Martial, realising he’s in on goal, gets a shot away which squirms through Leno’s legs, but loses enough pace in doing so for the keeper to scamper back and stop it from crossing the line.
29 mins: Wilson tries his luck again, shimmying in from the right and bending one from 20 yards which De Gea beats away two-fisted. Good fun this.
26 mins: Pereira spins brilliantly away from Martinez on the edge of the box and slides the ball in behind the United defence for Wilson, whose stretches to divert to goalwards. De Gea saves instinctively before the flag goes up against Wilson – a tight one.
23 mins: The game has settled into a patter of Fulham probing patiently and United looking to spring on the break. Palhinha cuts a United counter short with a terrific tackle on Elanga, who had escaped down the right.
20 mins: Willian involved again, this time jinking in from the left and attempting the long-range curler. It flies well wide. United go up the other end of the pitch and Fernandes’s glorious deep cross picks out Rashford alone at the back post. It arrives at at awkward height for Rashford, who fluffs the finish – but was offside.
19 mins: Pereira picks up the ball on the edge of the box and lays off to the onrushing Willian. He hits the byline but his pull-back can’t find a white shirt.
18 mins: Casemiro tries a shot from his own half. It goes nowhere near the goal. Not the sort of intervention he was bought for.
Goal! Fulham 0-1 Man United (Eriksen 14)
Cairney is caught in possession by Casemiro on halfway and in a flash, Martial charges forward, feeds Fernandes down the inside left and the Portuguese squares across the six-yard box for Eriksen to tap home. Casemiro started that with the sort of unshowy intervention he was bought for.
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13 mins: Rashford channels Ronaldinho, trying to beat Decordova-Reid with an elastico. It doesn’t quite come off – good fun though.
11 mins: Fulham turn the screw. Willian scampers forward but can’t quite feed Vinicius in the box, before Robinson drifts in a back-post cross which Shaw scrambles clear.
9 mins: United’s first meaningful attack comes as Shaw bends a ball down the line for Rashford, who advances into the area and lays off to Martial. For a second he has a sight of goal, but tries to dart through two defenders and is crowded out.
7 mins: Fulham are looking to attack down their left. After Wilson switches play nicely, Palhinha wrestles Malacia to the ground but his floated cross sails out for a goal kick.
5 mins: Eriksen is caught on the ball by Palhinha, kickstarting smart Fulham attack that ends with Vinicius’s low drive forcing a characteristic save-with-the-legs by De Gea.
3 mins: Robinson gallops down the left and is felled, fairly, by the earnest Elanga who has tracked back diligently.
1 min: Casemiro ends a period of scrappy play by funnelling the ball out to Malacia, who is starting at right-back to offend all our aesthetic sensibilities.
After a minute’s silence for Remembrance Sunday, we’re ready to go. United to kick off.
If we’re including Old Trafford fixtures, we’d have Fulham’s Inamoto-inspired dethroning of the champions in October 2003, right? Meanwhile, back in the real world, the teams are out.
Alex Ross chips in: “I’ll offer Fulham 3-0 Man U at the Cottage in December 2009. Roy Hodgson’s Fulham were three days removed from a delirious and snowy 3-2 win away at Basel, confirming our place in the knock-outs of the Europa League. Bobby Zamora and Zoltan Gera were unplayable. It was my birthday.”
“What about Van Nistelrooy’s sensational solo goal?” asks Edward Taylor. I mean, it was at Old Trafford so not strictly the same fixture but I’ll give you it nonetheless. Was that the least Van Nistelrooyish goal Van Nistelrooy ever scored? And has a footballer ever run the length of the pitch, leaving defenders trailing in his wake, at such hilariously slow speed?
Some highlights – off the top of my head – from this fixture over the years. February 2007: Cristiano Ronaldo scores a ludicrous late solo goal to secure a vital win en route to the title. March 2009: Wayne Rooney punches the corner flag on his way to the tunnel having been sent off in a 2-0 defeat. February 2014: Darren Bent starts hammering the nail into the coffin of the David Moyes era with a 95th-minute equaliser to make it 2-2. Any more for any more?
Pre-match reading: Our Manchester correspondent runs the rule over Ten Hag’s tenure so far
Is there a more jarring sight in football than a team fielding two left-backs? Other than that, Ten Hag’s team looks a good one: guile and know-how in midfield, pace and versatility up front. What looks good on paper doesn’t always play well in practice, though – especially for United.
Marco Silva gives Tom Cairney his first Premier League start of the season, a sign, perhaps, that he intends to get at United with probing possession rather than anything more direct. Andreas Pereira, on the mark against United’s neighbours last weekend, starts against his former club.
Team news!
Fulham: Leno, Decordova-Reid, Ream, Diop, Robinson, Palhinha, Cairney, Andreas, Wilson, Vinicius, Willian.
Subs: Rodák, Tosin, Duffy, Chalobah, James, Onomah, Mbabu, Harris, Sekularac
Man United: De Gea, Lindelof, Martinez, Malacia, Shaw, Fernandes, Eriksen, Casemiro, Elanga, Martial, Rashford.
Subs: Bishop, Dubravka, Maguire, Fred, McTominay, Van de Beek, Iqbal, Garnacho
Preamble
It was all going so well. Manchester United’s toothless loss to Aston Villa last weekend brought an end to an nine-game unbeaten that featured seven wins, six clean sheets and one remarkable period of totaalvoetbal with Harry Maguire up front.
Meek defeat at Villa Park a week ago may have given a snapshot of a team without a clue, but the truth is that Erik ten Hag’s tenure so far has for the large part been quietly impressive. Context is everything, and United’s current position of fifth looks far better when you consider that the club remains badly burdened by unremarkable talents and ageing egotists (and that’s just the boardroom!).
A win on the banks of the Thames would see Ten Hag’s men enter the not-quite-half-term break three points off the Champions League spots with a game in hand: not bad at all.
Marco Silva’s Fulham, meanwhile, will climb to within a point of United with a win today. They have been the division’s surprise package, and not many would be too shocked by a home win today for a side who like to give the heavyweights a proper game: Fulham went toe to toe with Liverpool on the opening day and would have two more points were it not for last-gasp goals from Arsenal and Manchester City.
They’ll have to do it without their talisman Aleksandar Mitrovic, who is out with a foot injury, though Booby Decordova-Reid returns from suspension. For United, Bruno Fernandes is back while Cristiano Ronaldo and Antony are doubts.
