Manchester United vs Fulham Preview

Manchester United vs Fulham

Competition – Barclays Premier League

Stadium: Old Trafford

Date: 16th August 2024

Kick-off time – 20:00 GMT

After over two months of no club football, the Premier League returns this Friday with Manchester United hosting Fulham in the opening game of the season.

The Reds Devils have already begun their season as they were in Community Shield action last Sunday. But their first game ended in disappointment as despite putting up a good fight, they were beaten on penalties by their city rivals Manchester City.

Despite the defeat, there’s still plenty of optimism around Old Trafford for this Premier League campaign. The sense of optimism is largely due to their business in the transfer market, with Matthijs De Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui being the latest additions to the squad.

This will be the eighth consecutive season United open their campaign on home soil (W5, L2), and Erik ten Hag will be desperate to add another victory to that record after overseeing a disastrous 2023/24. The Red Devils’ 14 league defeats was their highest total since 1989/90, one of which came on this ground against Fulham (2-1), ending an 18-match unbeaten H2H run (W15, D3).

That win was Fulham’s first victory at Old Trafford since October 2003 (W14, D2) and the result helped them to another mid-table finish in their second season since returning to the top flight. However, things may be more difficult this season as Marco Silva’s squad has lost the experience of tenured captain Tim Ream and midfield destroyer João Palhinha over the summer.

Still, the addition of Emile Smith Rowe from Arsenal has Cottagers fans excited ahead of the new campaign. The Englishman is likely to start this game and with him on the side, Fulham will be looking to avoid defeat on Match Day One. The good news is that they have not tasted defeat on the opening day in both seasons since their latest promotion (W1, D1).

Other fixtures taking place this week in the Premier League Fixtures:

March 15, 2025
Everton 16:00 West Ham United
Manchester City 16:00 Brighton & Hov…
Southampton 16:00 Wolverhampton Wanderers
Ipswich Town 16:00 Nottingham Forest
AFC Bournemouth 18:30 Brentford
March 16, 2025
Arsenal 14:30 Chelsea
Fulham 14:30 Tottenham Hotspur
Leicester City 20:00 Manchester United
April 1, 2025
Arsenal 18:45 Fulham
Wolverhampton Wanderers 18:45 West Ham United
Nottingham Forest 19:00 Manchester United
April 2, 2025
Newcastle United 18:45 Brentford
Southampton 18:45 Crystal Palace
Brighton & Hov… 18:45 Aston Villa
Manchester City 18:45 Leicester City
AFC Bournemouth 18:45 Ipswich Town
Liverpool 19:00 Everton
April 3, 2025
Chelsea 19:00 Tottenham Hotspur

Premier League Table

# Team MP W D L F A G P
1 Liverpool 29 21 7 1 69 27 +42 70
2 Arsenal 28 15 10 3 52 24 +28 55
3 Nottingham Forest 28 15 6 7 45 33 +12 51
4 Chelsea 28 14 7 7 53 36 +17 49
5 Manchester City 28 14 5 9 53 38 +15 47
6 Newcastle United 28 14 5 9 47 38 +9 47
7 Brighton & Hov… 28 12 10 6 46 40 +6 46
8 Aston Villa 29 12 9 8 41 45 -4 45
9 AFC Bournemouth 28 12 8 8 47 34 +13 44
10 Fulham 28 11 9 8 41 38 +3 42
11 Crystal Palace 28 10 9 9 36 33 +3 39
12 Brentford 28 11 5 12 48 44 +4 38
13 Tottenham Hotspur 28 10 4 14 55 41 +14 34
14 Manchester United 28 9 7 12 34 40 -6 34
15 Everton 28 7 12 9 31 35 -4 33
16 West Ham United 28 9 6 13 32 48 -16 33
17 Wolverhampton Wanderers 28 6 5 17 38 57 -19 23
18 Ipswich Town 28 3 8 17 26 58 -32 17
19 Leicester City 28 4 5 19 25 62 -37 17
20 Southampton 28 2 3 23 20 68 -48 9

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