Fulham 0-1 Man Utd

A humungous deflection was the difference between Fulham and Manchester United at Craven Cottage on Sunday evening.

The Whites had by far the better of the first half without making the breakthrough, and were punished after the restart when Lisandro Martinez’s effort hit Saša Lukić and span over Bernd Leno.

It was the visitors’ only shot on target of the game.

Joachim Andersen thought he’d equalised when he did everything right with his header from an Andreas Pereira corner, but Toby Collyer positioned himself well to clear it off the line to preserve the points for his side.

Such was the polished nature of the previous week’s trip to Leicester, Marco Silva saw no reason to change anything and named the same XI that started the 2-0 victory over the Foxes.

Fulham began the evening with a swagger, and created the first sniff of goal after five minutes, winning a turnover in possession that allowed Alex Iwobi to drive towards goal and draw a smart low stop from Andre Onana.

A lot of the Whites’ best work was coming down that left flank, with Iwobi demanding another Onana save in the 19^th minute having cut inside, but this one was more routine for the United ‘keeper.

It was from a similar position on the edge of the box that our next chance presented itself, but Raúl Jiménez’s strike didn’t have enough curl to get back on target.

More good movement from our number seven then saw him get on the end of a low Antonee Robinson delivery, but he was off balance and skewed his effort wide of the near post.

United had barely had a sniff of goal throughout the night, but Bruno Fernandes did manage to ruffle the side-netting with a free-kick 12 minutes into the second half, after Timothy Castagne had felled Noussair Mazraoui on the edge of the box.

Fulham hadn’t been able to create as many openings in the second half, but the introduction of Rodrigo Muniz had added some pep to our attacking output, and he almost got on the end of a clipped Castagne cross in the 71^st minute, only for Harry Maguire to make a crucial last ditch intervention.

Fellow substitute Adama Traoré had also been a breath of fresh air, and after drawing the game’s first booking having been caught late by Manuel Ugarte, the winger sent a piledriver a yard over the bar at the Hammy End.

Bernd Leno had been a spectator all game, and so it was incredibly cruel when United’s first shot on target looped over him, as Martinez’s speculative hit from 20 yards took a massive deflection off Lukić and span in via the crossbar.

Andersen thought he’d grabbed a deserved equaliser with a minute to play when he nodded a precise Andreas corner beyond Onana, but Collyer was perfectly placed to head it off the line.

The pressure was maintained as the ball was worked back to Muniz, who saw his shot into the ground bounce up and onto the top of the net.

Muniz had another sighter midway through the six added minutes of stoppage time when Castagne brought down a Robinson cross, but the striker could only fire over on the spin.

United thought they’d grabbed a second at the death when Amad Diallo fired in after a one-two with Kobbie Mainoo, but he had strayed offside in the build-up.

Unfortunately that did not affect the outcome, though, with a low-key contest decided by a moment of pure chance.