Fulham 1-1 Man United: 29 shots, and a Cunha goal on 89

Fulham 1-1 Manchester United was twenty-nine shots against twelve, thirteen corners against three, and a point each. Fulham went ahead on sixty-three minutes through an own goal by Lisandro Martinez, and Matheus Cunha equalised for United in the eighty-ninth with a right-footed shot from outside the box, set up by Patrick Dorgu.

Both sides finished with six shots on target, which is the only column of the afternoon that looked even. United had 57.3% of the ball and more than twice as many attempts, and left Craven Cottage with one point.

An own goal, and then an hour of pressure

The first hour produced two Fulham bookings, Josh King on forty-five and Timothy Castagne on fifty. The goal, when it came on sixty-three, went to Fulham without a Fulham player touching it: Martinez turned it into his own net, and the visitors were behind having had most of the ball and most of the shots.

What followed was a long, fruitless siege. Rodrigo Muniz was booked on eighty-five for Fulham, who finished with three yellow cards to United’s none. United kept taking shots; they took twenty-nine in all, and twenty-three of them did not force a save.

Cunha, on eighty-nine, from outside the box

The equaliser arrived with a minute of normal time left. Dorgu found Cunha outside the area and Cunha hit it right-footed past the goalkeeper. Six shots on target each, six saves for the Fulham goalkeeper and five for United’s, and a point that United had spent ninety minutes earning in volume rather than in quality.

• Own goal by Lisandro Martinez (Manchester United), 63 minutes: counted for Fulham
• Matheus Cunha (Manchester United), 89 minutes: right-footed from outside the box, assisted by Patrick Dorgu
• Shots: Fulham 12 (6 on target), Manchester United 29 (6 on target)
• Possession: Fulham 42.7%, Manchester United 57.3%
• Corners: Fulham 3, Manchester United 13
• Cards: Fulham 3 yellow, Manchester United none

Fulham have not scored a goal themselves in three matches

Fulham have two points from five and are nineteenth. They lost 3-2 at home to Chelsea, lost 1-0 at Sunderland, lost 3-2 at home to Crystal Palace, drew 0-0 at Liverpool and have now drawn 1-1. Five goals scored across the season, and the most recent of them was put in by a Manchester United defender.

That is the number that matters at Craven Cottage: the last goal a Fulham player scored was on matchday three, against Crystal Palace. Two matches since then have produced one goal for them and it was an own goal. They have not been beaten in either, which is the other half of the picture, but a side with two points from five needs to start scoring.

United have one win in five

Manchester United have five points from five: one win, two draws, two defeats, eight scored and eight conceded. They lost 2-0 at Hull City on the opening weekend, beat Ipswich Town 5-2, drew 2-2 at Everton, lost 1-0 at home to Manchester City and have now drawn at Fulham.

Twenty-nine shots is comfortably the highest total of the matchday, five more than anyone else managed, and it yielded one goal, in the eighty-ninth minute, from outside the box. United have now failed to win four of their five matches, and the one win remains the 5-2 against a side that has since lost three more.

Peter Bankes refereed and booked three Fulham players and no United ones, which fits the shape of an afternoon in which one side chased the ball and the other defended a lead it had been handed.

Volume without a finish

The shots-on-target column is where the afternoon really sat: six each. United needed twenty-nine attempts to find six that a goalkeeper had to save; Fulham needed twelve. Thirteen corners produced nothing at all, and the goal that rescued the point came from outside the box with a minute left, which is the opposite of what a siege is supposed to produce.

For a side that has now taken five points from five matches, the pattern is becoming familiar. United have scored eight goals this season and five of them came in one afternoon against Ipswich Town. In the other four matches they have scored three.

Simulate the rest of the Premier League season

United took twenty-nine shots for one goal and Fulham have not scored through one of their own players in three matches. On the Premier League simulator you can take the real table forward from here and find out where that leaves either of them.

• Play the remaining 33 rounds from the real table and the real fixture list
• Run any fixture through the AI match simulator, in tactical view or in the physics arena
• 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

"Twenty-nine shots, thirteen corners, one goal in the eighty-ninth minute. United left Craven Cottage with a point."