December 21, 2024
Erik Ten Hag-led Manchester United came from behind to round off their 2022/2023 Premier League campaign with a 2-1 home win over Fulham to cement their third-place spot in the league, after securing a Champions League ticket in their 4-1 win over Chelsea last Thursday.
With little or nothing left to gain from this match, as Fulham has also sealed a 10th-place finish in their last game — both teams opened their last league game with matched intensity.
Aleksandar Mitrovic bundled off his side’s first chance off target before Marcus Rashford forced a brilliant save out of Bernd Leno from a freekick.
However, the away team stole the lead in the 19th minute through an unlikely source in Kenny Tete who headed Willian’s delivery into David De Gea’s net for his first goal on the season.
It appeared Fulham would double their lead when Casemiro fouled Tom Cairney to concede a penalty, but shockingly, De Gea who hasn’t kept out a penalty kick since November 2021, after many trials rose to deny Mitrovic from the spot and keep his side in the game.
Fourteen minutes later, United got themselves back into the game via Jadon Sancho who capitalised on good work from Fred by poking the ball into the net to keep the score line at parity through the halftime break.
That wouldn’t stand for long, as Bruno Fernandes leveraged Fred’s through ball to grab United’s second goal in the 55th minute. Moments later Rashford came close to adding a third goal but was denied by Leno, before Wout Weghorst missed a glorious chance to grab his first PL goal in United’s colours — from an opportunity presented to him from a nice teamwork between Pellestri, Martial and Sancho.
The game ended with the scoreline unchanged, with Manchester United doing enough to secure all three points — providing the perfect momentum as they prepare for the FA Cup final against neighbours Manchester City.
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