FULHAM – MANCHESTER UNITED | Sunday 5:30pm
The results of Saturday’s matches don’t give much comfort to Manchester United, who now run the serious risk of moving further away from fourth place. Newcastle won and so did Tottenham, the two teams ahead of the Red Devils at the moment – but they have a game to spare – while behind them Liverpool continue to nibble away points: the Reds beat Southampton and moved to -1. This gives the measure of how important the defeat at home to Aston Villa (3-1) last Sunday was, then immediately avenged this week in the League Cup by beating the Birmingham club 4-2. The slip-up against the Villans, however, put an end to an unbeaten run that had lasted nine games, including those in the Europa League. In short, the three points are imperative in the Craven Cottage match against newly promoted Fulham, the one that closes the sixteenth day of the Premier League, the last one before the long break for the World Cup.
The English Premier League table is still very short from tenth place down, but the Cottagers are still keeping well clear of the relegation zone, occupying ninth place which last August seemed utopian. Instead, the Cottagers are the team that is doing better than the others who moved up the table last year and are on their way to a quiet salvation. In the last round they came close to taking a point away from the Etihad Stadium, putting Pep Guardiola’s City to the sword (2-1).
Andreas Pereira
The Prediction
Manchester United have emerged victorious in eleven of their last twelve meetings with Fulham. And the chances of them avoiding defeat again this time are high. The Londoners represent the surprise of this first part of the season, but they always concede a lot to their opponents and then in this match they will be without their goal scorer Mitrovic. At least three goals in total are expected in the match that will be staged in the English capital.
Fulham-Manchester United
likely line-ups
- FULHAM (4-2-3-1): Leno; Decordova-Reid, Diop, Ream, Robinson; Cairney, Palhinha; Wilson, Pereira, Willian; Vinicius.
- MANCHESTER UNITED (4-3-3): De Gea; Malacia, Lindelof, Martinez, Shaw; Casemiro, Eriksen, Bruno Fernandes; Garnacho, Martial, Rashford.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 1-2
