Fulham vs Manchester United: 84 shots and four points
Fulham vs Manchester United at Craven Cottage on Sunday closes the fifth round of the Premier League, and it features the side that shoots more than anyone against a side still looking for its first league win. United have taken eighty-four league shots in four matches, the most in the division, and have four points to show for it. Fulham are eighteenth with one point, which came from a goalless draw at Anfield last Saturday. United are thirteenth, and they arrive a week after losing the Manchester derby at home to ten-man City.
Both clubs play in the Carabao Cup third round first: Fulham at West Ham United on Tuesday 15 September, and United at home to Brighton on Wednesday 16 September.
Fulham: a first point, and a first clean sheet
Fulham’s first three league matches all ended in defeat: 3-2 at home to Chelsea, 1-0 at Sunderland and 3-2 at home to Crystal Palace, a match in which they took twenty-five shots and led twice. Last Saturday at Anfield they held Liverpool to 0-0, their first league point and first league clean sheet of the season.
Fulham have averaged 57.1% of the ball and taken sixty league shots, but only sixteen on target. Josh King has two of their four league goals; Gonzalo García and César Palacios have one each. At Craven Cottage they have lost both league matches 3-2, and they have not yet won a league match anywhere. Their one win this season came in the Carabao Cup, 3-0 against AFC Wimbledon in the second round.
Craven Cottage has produced ten league goals in two matches this season, five in each of Fulham’s home defeats.
Manchester United: shots, and not enough points
United lost 2-0 at Hull City on the opening weekend despite 71.5% of the ball and twenty-one shots, then beat Ipswich Town 5-2 with thirty-three shots, Bruno Fernandes scoring three times. They drew 2-2 at Everton, conceding an equaliser in the sixth minute of stoppage time, and lost 1-0 to City last Sunday despite playing against ten men for more than an hour and hitting the post twice.
Eighty-four shots and twenty-two on target have produced seven league goals. Fernandes has three, Bryan Mbeumo two and Benjamin Sesko one, with an own goal completing the total. United have not won a league match away from home: the defeat at Hull and the draw at Everton. They did win their Champions League opener, 4-0 at home to Sabah FK on 10 September.
Leads have been rare for Fulham: the 3-2 defeat by Crystal Palace, in which they went ahead twice, is the only league match this season in which they have been in front. United have led in two of their four league matches, against Ipswich and at Everton, and took four points from them.
- Fulham: eighteenth, 1 point, 4 scored and 7 conceded; no league win yet
- Manchester United: thirteenth, 4 points, 7 scored and 7 conceded
- United have taken 84 league shots, the most in the Premier League
- Fulham have lost both home league matches 3-2
- Bruno Fernandes has 3 league goals, all against Ipswich Town
What the match turns on
United will almost certainly take a lot of shots again. The question, as it has been all season, is how many of them trouble the goalkeeper: twenty-two on target from eighty-four is roughly one in four, and against City only three of sixteen were on target.
Fulham’s performance at Anfield suggests a side that has found some defensive stability after conceding seven goals in their first three league matches. But at home they have been open, conceding three goals in each league match at Craven Cottage, and United have shown against Ipswich what happens when their volume of shooting meets a defence that gives chances away.
United have also conceded three league goals from the eightieth minute onwards, at Everton and against Ipswich, so a Fulham side that stays in the match has reasons to keep pushing late.
Kick-off is at 16:30 on Sunday.
Simulate the match before kick-off
The division’s most prolific shooters against a side still waiting for a league win is a match worth testing before Sunday. Run Fulham vs Manchester United through the AI simulator on this site and see how many of those shots turn into goals.
- Run this fixture through the AI match simulator, in tactical view or in the physics arena
- Simulate this week’s Carabao Cup third-round ties, including West Ham United against Fulham and Manchester United against Brighton
- Play the remaining 34 rounds from the real table and the real fixture list
- Open the line-up builder for both clubs before you kick off a simulation
- Turn an arena simulation into a vertical video ready to share
"United shoot more than anyone in the league. Fulham have conceded three in both home league matches. Sunday decides which number wins."