Match Preview
Fulham vrs Manchester United
Premier League Match Day 11 23/24 at Craven Cottage
Saturday 4th November 2023 KO: 12:30
Referee:
John Brooks (Leicestershire)
Live on TNT Sports 1
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Fulham meet Manchester United at Craven Cottage in Saturday's early Premier League kickoff with The Cottagers having just booked their spot in the League Cup quarter-finals by downing Ipswich Town 3-1.
With the Reds' crisis worsening by the week, a morale-depleted team will seek to make amends for a disastrous few days when they meet Fulhsm .
For all of Ipswich's feats in the final third, the Tractor Boys have often forgotten to keep the back door closed, and Fulham took full advantage on Wednesday evening as Harry Wilson, Rodrigo Muniz and Tom Cairney made the net bulge, and Ipswich goalkeeper Christian Walton will not want to watch the former or latter's goals back.
Elkan Baggott's 79th-minute header came too late to inspire a fightback, and a place in the semis will be up for grabs when Fulham square off with Everton next month, but regaining some much-needed top-flight consistency is now priority number one on Silva's Cottagers checklist.
Thanks to a Joao Palhinha drive an all-around domineering performance from the touch-tackling Portuguese, Fulham held Brighton & Hove Albion to a 1-1 draw in their last top-flight affair, denying the Seagulls their first-ever Premier League win against them but dropping to 14th place as a result.
Three wins, three draws and four losses in the Premier League so far can certainly be described as a mixed bag, and while two of those victories have come at Craven Cottage, newly-promoted sides Luton Town and Sheffield United were the victims.
If the Old Trafford panic button had not already been pressed after a harrowing 3-0 derby defeat to Manchester City, Red Devils chiefs' fingers may now be hovering dangerously above the red switch after Newcastle subjected the Red Devils to an identical pummelling in the EFL Cup.
Just over eight months on from falling to Man United's superiority at Wembley, Newcastle made a few more walls of the Old Trafford fortress crumble, as Miguel Almiron's opener, Lewis Hall's wonderful volley and an unstoppable Joe Willock run and finish saw the Red Devils meekly cede their grip on the crown.
Unwanted records had already been matched when the Citizens put three past Erik ten Hag's team without reply last weekend, and with Newcastle following in the treble winners' footsteps, Man United have lost back-to-back home games by at least three goals for the first time since 1962, which was also the most recent year when they suffered eight defeats from their opening 15 games of a campaign.
Ten Hag supposedly has enough credit in the bank to avoid being given his P45, but the Dutchman has recognised that his side's efforts have been nowhere near good enough, as the Red Devils languish in eighth place in the table, closer to the relegation zone than top spot points-wise.
A return to the road - where Man United have beaten Sheffield United and Burnley in back-to-back contests - should therefore be welcomed with open arms by the Man United faithful, who have not seen their side lose to Fulham since 2009, but the Cottagers will seemingly not get a better chance to break that 17-game curse.
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Since winning back-to-back Premier League games against Manchester United in March and December 2009, Fulham are now winless in their past 15 against them.
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Manchester United have won their last six Premier League away games against Fulham – only at West Bromwich Albion (eight times between 1984 and 2011) have they won more consecutively at an opponent.
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Fulham have exactly the same league record after 10 matches as they did last season but have scored seven fewer goals.
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The Cottagers have not scored a first-half goal in a league match at Craven Cottage so far this campaign. Unsurprisingly, their first-half record is the worst in the division, with Manchester United 18th.
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Marco Silva's only win in his six Premier League matches as a manager against Manchester United was 4-0 for Everton in April 2019.
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Fulham rank joint sixth for fewest shots faced this season in the Premier League (125) but sixth for most shots on target faced.
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Manchester United have suffered as many as eight losses in their opening 15 fixtures in all competitions for the first time since registering nine defeats at the same stage in 1962-63.
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This is the first time they have lost five of their opening 10 league matches in a season since the 1986-87 campaign. Alex Ferguson was appointed manager to replace Ron Atkinson on 6 November of that campaign.
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United's goal difference of -5 is their worst after 10 league fixtures since 1972-73. Only after three games of the 2020-21 season have they ever had a lower goal difference at any stage of a Premier League campaign (-6).
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United are aiming to win three consecutive league away matches for the first time since a run of 10 between June and December 2020.
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However, they have won just one of their last 11 league games in London, although that was at Craven Cottage last November.
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Source Ben Knapton at SportsMole