Fulham Draw Leaves Man Utd With Serious Questions to Answer During International Break

Manchester United rescued a draw with a late, heavily deflected Matheus Cunha equalizer away at Fulham in the Premier League on Sunday.

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Off the back of a shocking collapse against Brighton & Hove Albion in the Carabao Cup, Michael Carrick’s team fell behind at Craven Cottage through a 63rd-minute Lisandro Martínez own goal.

Having lost-albeit in controversial circumstances-to Manchester City a week ago, it looked like it would be consecutive Premier League defeats for the first time in more than a year, stretching back to the end of the 2024–25 season. But Cunha’s long-range shot in the 89th minute beat Bernd Leno when it was redirected by a touch off of center back David Affengruber.

Five points from five games makes it the joint-lowest tally for a Manchester United team at this stage of a Premier League season, matching 2014–15.

With three weeks until the team’s next match because of an extended international break, United will sit 12th in the standings until facing last-place Tottenham Hotspur on Oct. 10.

The ‘Worst’ 15 Minutes From Man Utd in Nearly Half a Century

5 – With five points, this is Manchester United’s joint-lowest tally after five games of a Premier League season, also picking up five in 2014-15.

Sluggish. pic.twitter.com/UZTBWRpGnm

– OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) September 20, 2026

Providing live commentary and analysis for Sky Sports, Gary Neville called the opening quarter-hour after halftime the “worst” 15 minutes he’s ever seen from any Manchester United team-he began watching the club as a five-year-old in 1980.

It was slow, uninspired and culminated in Fulham-the worst team in the Premier League prior to kickoff in west London-taking a not-underserved lead.

Too many United players were guilty of lacking intensity and walking. As a team, the Red Devils had collectively covered almost 7 kilometers (4.3 miles) less distance than Fulham after 73 minutes. But they were conversely the better team in the final 15 minutes. Leno made five saves in the match, but three came after Fulham had gone in front. That closing intensity and energy was good, so why didn’t it happen like that from the start? It was much too late.

Lammens Learns the Hard Way

United goalkeeper Senne Lammens made four saves in the first half alone, most notably to deny Joshua King and Sander Berge only a couple of minutes apart.

The Belgian was named Premier League Signing of the Season at the end of his debut campaign, but a costly World Cup mistake that led to his country’s elimination and public doubt about his long-term suitability for the role by Old Trafford legend Paul Scholes have contributed to a slightly different kind of narrative around Lammens so far this season.

He will feel he should have done better when Fulham took the lead, parrying the initial shot from Calvin Bassey back into a dangerous area. It then rebounded off an unwitting Martínez, with Lammens trying to react with his feet when a dive would have been more appropriate. He was perhaps unnecessarily worried about being penalized for handling a back pass-it wasn’t a deliberate touch from Martínez and so it wouldn’t have been.

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A few minutes later, Lammens was able to parry a Kevin shot further from goal and out of immediate danger. He didn’t cost his team this game and is actually credited with preventing 1.48 Fulham goals, per FotMob, and even topped the player ratings across both teams. But the margins are so fine that even the smallest imperfection can have a huge influence.

Rashford Needs to Offer More

Marcus Rashford’s reintegration since returning from 18 months on loan at Aston Villa and Barcelona has generally been considered a success. The England international addressed a clear need on the left wing and has been proven at the required level for a decade.

In 77 minutes in this match, Rashford had both the most touches of the ball in the opposition box (10) and the most shots (6). He passed with care (89% accuracy) and created four chances. It all sounds good on the surface. But his expected goals (xG) when he was withdrawn and replaced by Joshua Zirkzee amounted to just 0.34 and his expected assists (xA) was 0.14.

He’s been praised throughout the past few weeks for looking sharp and visibly putting in the effort. But that alone isn’t enough. Rashford is now six appearances into 2026–27 across all competitions, 435 minutes on the pitch, and is yet to either score or assist a goal.

While it is completely possible to do good and important things without finding the net or playing the final pass, those numbers ultimately define every forward at this level. If you’re not scoring or assisting, what are you actually doing?

Man Utd Debut Blue Kit for No Obvious Reason

This has nothing to do with the actual soccer, but United debuted their all-blue away kit in a competitive fixture on Sunday, having only previously worn it during preseason. That isn’t particularly remarkable, but what is a little more curious is, why this match?

Away kits exist in soccer because of color clashes, which is why a team’s primary jersey will be used both home and away. But it’s been increasingly common over the past 10 or so years to see teams switch up their jersey color whether it is necessary or not.

There was no color clash here, with Fulham’s white shirts, black shorts and white socks perfectly opposed to United’s red shirts, white shorts and black socks. But the blue kit was still brought out, with the club’s official website noting beforehand this was likely the first time they have ever visited Craven Cottage and not worn red.

Even with it becoming an established part of 21st century elite soccer, an exact reason has never been established for these random kit changes. Some theorize a contractual obligation or quota to meet, but an ‘experienced sports lawyer’ quoted by U.K. magazine When Saturday Comes said in 2018 “this is unlikely,” suggesting instead that since “clubs are usually incentivized on the basis of kit sales, it’ll be the club itself that elects to push the different kits.”

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This story was originally published September 20, 2026 at 4:00 PM.