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:

April 5, 2025
Everton 12:30 Arsenal
Crystal Palace 15:00 Brighton & Hov…
Ipswich Town 15:00 Wolverhampton Wanderers
West Ham United 15:00 AFC Bournemouth
Aston Villa 17:30 Nottingham Forest
April 6, 2025
Brentford 14:00 Chelsea
Fulham 14:00 Liverpool
Tottenham Hotspur 14:00 Southampton
Manchester United 16:30 Manchester City
April 7, 2025
Leicester City 20:00 Newcastle United
April 12, 2025
Manchester City 12:30 Crystal Palace
Brighton & Hov… 15:00 Leicester City
Nottingham Forest 15:00 Everton
Southampton 15:00 Aston Villa
Arsenal 17:30 Brentford
April 13, 2025
Chelsea 14:00 Ipswich Town
Liverpool 14:00 West Ham United
Wolverhampton Wanderers 14:00 Tottenham Hotspur
Newcastle United 16:30 Manchester United
April 14, 2025
AFC Bournemouth 20:00 Fulham

Premier League Table

# Team MP W D L F A G P
1 Liverpool 30 22 7 1 70 27 +43 73
2 Arsenal 30 17 10 3 55 25 +30 61
3 Nottingham Forest 30 17 6 7 50 35 +15 57
4 Chelsea 30 15 7 8 54 37 +17 52
5 Manchester City 30 15 6 9 57 40 +17 51
6 Newcastle United 29 15 5 9 49 39 +10 50
7 Aston Villa 30 13 9 8 44 45 -1 48
8 Brighton & Hov… 30 12 11 7 48 45 +3 47
9 Fulham 30 12 9 9 44 40 +4 45
10 AFC Bournemouth 30 12 8 10 49 38 +11 44
11 Brentford 30 12 5 13 51 47 +4 41
12 Crystal Palace 29 10 10 9 37 34 +3 40
13 Manchester United 30 10 7 13 37 41 -4 37
14 Tottenham Hotspur 30 10 4 16 55 44 +11 34
15 Everton 30 7 13 10 32 37 -5 34
16 West Ham United 30 9 7 14 33 50 -17 34
17 Wolverhampton Wanderers 30 8 5 17 41 58 -17 29
18 Ipswich Town 30 4 8 18 30 63 -33 20
19 Leicester City 30 4 5 21 25 67 -42 17
20 Southampton 30 2 4 24 22 71 -49 10

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