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Manchester United face Fulham at Old Trafford in the final Premier League match of the season. United confirmed their top four finish with a 4-1 victory over Chelsea at the Theatre of Dreams on Thursday evening and rising back to third place in the league above Newcastle United. Should United beat Fulham today, they will be guaranteed to finish in third this season, which will be fitting seeing as it is the position they have been in for large parts of the season.
Fulham are already confirmed as tenth-placed in the league as they cannot rise to ninth because they are four points short of Brentford and they are eight points clear of 11th placed Crystal Palace so this match is a dead rubber for them, as it is for the teams in the top four this season. Brentford, Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa will be fighting for European football this season and other than they it is the relegation battle to look out for. Some drama to come this season.
Erik ten Hag will be seeking to end the season on a high, unbeaten at Old Trafford in the Premier League since the opening day when they lost 2-1 to Brighton and Hove Albion. Beating Fulham should be enough for this United side at the end of the day. The fact they have nothing to fight for on the last day of the season is good because it has not always been like that and the return to UEFA Champions League football next season will be great to see once again.
Manchester United
De Gea;
Dalot, Maguire, Lindelof, Malacia;
Casemiro, Fred;
Garnacho, Fernandes, Sancho;
Rashford
Substitutes
Butland; Varane, Shaw, Wan-Bissaka; Eriksen, Pellistri, McTominay; Martial, Weghorst
Fulham
Leno;
Tete, Adarabioyo, Diop, Robinson;
Lukic, Palhinha;
Wilson, Cairney, Willian;
Mitrovic
Substitutes
Rodak; Soares; Reed, Kebano, James, Dibley-Dias; Solomon, De Cordova-Reid, Vinicius
United and Fulham have met 31 times in the Premier League. United have won 22 times drawing six times and losing three times. United have scored 70 goals, winning two penalties, scoring one of them. Fulham have scored 32 goals, winning two penalties, scoring both of them. United have kept 11 clean sheets with Fulham keeping two. United players shown 43 yellow cards and two red cards. Fulham players have been shown 41 yellow cards and one red card.
United have already played Fulham twice this season; once in the Premier League, in which they beat them 2-1 at Craven Cottage with Christian Eriksen opening the scoring, Daniel James equalising for Fulham and Alejandro Garnacho grabbing the winner in added time. The second was in the Emirates FA Cup quarter final with United winning 3-1. Aleksandar Mitrovic opened the scoring, Bruno Fernandes got a brace and Marcel Sabitzer also scored.
Andreas Pereira, Dimitar Berbatov, Andy Cole, Louis Saha, Edwin van de Sar, Paul Parker, Kieran Richardson, Ryan Tunnicliffe, Chris Smalling, Tim Fosu-Mensah, George Best and Charlie Mitten have all played for both Manchester United and Fulham. Best is probably the most well-known along with van de Sar, Parker, Cole, Berbatov, Mitten Saha and Smalling. Pereira is doing well at Fulham after being sold by United. He has three goals and six assists in 31 appearances so far.
Written by John Walker