Match Preview
Fulham versus Manchester United
Premiership Match Day 05 26/27 at Craven Cottage
Sunday 20th September 2026 KO: 16:30
Referee:
Peter Bankes (Lancashire)
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Fulham face Manchester United in Sunday's Premier League bottom-half battle. The Cottagers will be aiming to build on their away draw at Liverpool and away win at West Ham in the League Cup to gain their first win of the new season. United will be seeking to avoid a third straight defeat in all competitions.
Fulham manager Alvaro Arbeloa has collected a paltry one point from his first four Premier League matches, although that did arrive in an incredibly hard-fought goalless draw with Liverpool in gameweek four.
There was a tinge of black and white disappointment at Fulham not heading home with their first win of the season, after Jeremy Jacquet cleared Gonzalo Garcia's effort off the line, but shutting out Liverpool at Anfield after shipping seven in their first three Premier League games of the season represents a marked improvement.
The Cottagers' defensive deficiencies reared their ugly heads again in midweek, but to minimal effect as Arbeloa's men reached the fourth round of the EFL Cup with a chaotic 3-2 triumph over West Ham United, courtesy of Oscar Bobb's 78th-minute winner.
However, Fulham took just one point from six on offer against Man Utd in the 2025-26 Premier League, and the Red Devils are unbeaten in 10 consecutive trips to Craven Cottage since a shock 3-0 reverse in December 2009.
After becoming the victims of one of the most calamitous VAR decisions in Premier League history, Man United were simply the victims of their own self-inflicted downfall on Wednesday night, which left the under-pressure Carrick cutting a "beaten" figure.
For the first time in half a century - before the head coach was even born - Man United lost at Old Trafford after taking a two-goal lead, surrendering a healthy advantage to Brighton a year on from their embarrassing Grimsby Town elimination.
While Red Devils fans could rightly point fingers at the officiating team in their Manchester derby defeat - albeit as well as their 11 men who could not break down 10 men - Wednesday's woeful effort was all on Carrick and his crop, who have also won just one of their four Premier League games so far in 2026-27.
Furthermore, only one of the visitors' six showdowns in all tournaments this season has seen Carrick's men keep a clean sheet - their 4-0 Champions League crushing of Sabah - and Man United have conceded at least twice in four of their other five fixtures.
That sorry sequence includes both of their Premier League road trips so far to Hull City (2-0) and Everton (2-2), meaning Man United could fail to win their first three top-flight away games in a single season for the second year running.
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Source Ben Knapton at SportsMole