Erik ten Hag’s team started trailing against Fulham, equalized at the brink of the final whistle, and saw Iwobi, with a goal in the 90+7th minute, give Marco Silva’s team the victory and inflict United’s first defeat of the year (1-2).
After a very unstable start to the season, haunted by elimination from European competitions, Manchester United came into this Saturday’s match on the back of five consecutive victories and without a loss since the end of last year. In other words, they were experiencing a noticeable positive momentum and getting closer to the Champions League qualification spots.
It was in this context that Erik ten Hag’s team faced Marco Silva’s Fulham on Saturday, who had only achieved one victory in their last eight games. The Red Devils took to the field after Aston Villa’s triumph against Nottingham Forest and before Tottenham played, knowing they needed to secure three points to stay in the race for European places — but the Dutch coach preferred to emphasize the confidence the team had gained in recent weeks.
“These results put us in a good mood, in good spirits. But every game starts 0-0, and we have to understand that we have to enter tomorrow’s game with this spirit, that we have to start anew and bring the right performance to play at the highest level. Cooperate and get the stands on our side. If so, I think we are and can be confident, put our structures in place. From there, we just have to score and win the game,” said Ten Hag in the pre-match press conference.
So, at Old Trafford, the Dutch coach didn’t have Højlund due to injury and fielded Rashford as the main striker, with Bruno Fernandes, Alejandro Garnacho, and young Omari Forson supporting the English forward, while Diogo Dalot also started on the right side of defense. On the other side, Marco Silva was missing João Palhinha, who was suspended due to accumulation of yellow cards.
Fulham opened the scoring in the second half, with Calvin Bassey breaking the deadlock (65′), and Harry Maguire equalized just before the final whistle with a rebound following a cross from Bruno Fernandes on the left (89′). However, seven minutes into stoppage time, Alex Iwobi dealt a real blow to Old Trafford: he received the ball on the left, shot skillfully towards the goal, and André Onana remained rooted to the spot (90+7′).
With this defeat, Manchester United lost for the first time in 2024 and now finds themselves eight points behind Aston Villa in fourth place, risking being six points behind Tottenham if the Spurs win in this current round.
