A comical own goal by Lisandro Martínez saw Manchester United fail to win for a third Premier League game in a row as they drew 1-1 with Fulham at Craven Cottage.
It was a lethargic, muted display from Michael Carrick‘s side, who will spend the international break in the bottom half of the Premier League table, though they were spared from making it three losses in a week by Matheus Cunha’s late deflected goal.
Their malaise was summed up by the surreal nature of the goal they gifted Fulham.
It went down against Martinez’s name but the blame was shared with his goalkeeper, a botched effort by Senne Lammens to shovel away Calvin Bassey’s shot with his legs rather than his gloves, then an equally inexplicable and muddled attempt at keeping the defender’s pass back to him out of his net.
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Cunha too had been at fault, crumpling into a heap in midfield and allowing Bassey to sprint the ball away, though the Brazilian would redeem himself, rescuing his side in the 89th minute with a shot that deflected heavily off David Affengruber.
There could be little arguing United deserved anything more than they got, indeed Fulham ought to have given Alvaro Arbeloa his first Premier League win.
There was plenty here to offer the Spaniard encouragement. Early on, Antonee Robinson moved the ball inside to Gonzalo García who shot wide in search of his second Premier League goal. Martinez hit a thunderous effort from range that needed turning away at full-stretch by Bernd Leno.
The game had been played at a sedentary, almost pre-season pace but burst suddenly into life midway through the half.
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United came within inches of going ahead when Cunha got the better of Affengruber near the byline and cut back for Bruno Fernandes to roll a shot against a post.
Lammens, prior to his second-half howler, made three saves in quick succession, the best of them a smart block from Sander Berge. Oscar Bobb then dragged wide from a good position before Leno was needed again to tip away Cunha’s awkward deflected effort.
The United goalkeeper had a perplexing afternoon. At times he was keeping his team in it, sticking out a boot to divert Josh King’s low shot behind, then later racing from goal to smother as Alex Iwobi went through.
A lovely turn and cross by Cunha found Marcus Rashford, arguably still not looking at ease back at United, who leaned back and leathered his effort into the Fulham supporters behind the goal.
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United got themselves into a horrible mess for Fulham’s goal. Cunha made a feeble attempt to keep the ball from Bassey, who put the Brazilian on the floor and raced into the box. His shot was tame and straight at Lammens who made the strange decision to bounce away with his thigh, then could not recover as Martinez’s pass back to him squirmed into the corner.
Bryan Mbeumo was denied by a flying save from Leno, who also kept out Cunha’s curling effort as it bent towards the bottom corner.
Fulham were almost there, then Cunha’s shot span cruelly off Affengruber and in past the stranded Leno.
