Matheus Cunha Rescues a Point for Manchester United in 1-1 Draw at Fulham

Manchester United had 29 shots at Craven Cottage on Sunday and needed a deflection off their own attacker to avoid defeat. Matheus Cunha's strike four minutes from time cancelled out a Lisandro Martínez own goal and salvaged a 1-1 draw against a Fulham side that had spent most of the afternoon defending, in a result that flattered neither Michael Carrick's control of the game nor his side's position in the table.

A horror goal against the run of play

United dominated for long spells without scoring, and it was Fulham who broke the deadlock — through no fault of their own attack. On 63 minutes the ball cannoned off Martínez and looped past Senne Lammens into the United net, an own goal that gave Fulham a lead their overall play in the game had not really earned. It was the kind of moment that had already threatened to arrive: Bruno Fernandes had struck a post in the first half, and later in the second period Cunha himself saw a shot come back off the woodwork before finally getting the goal his side's pressure deserved.

Cunha makes it count with four minutes left

United kept pushing after falling behind, and the equaliser came from exactly the kind of pressure that had produced 29 shots by full time. Cunha's effort took a deflection on its way past Bernd Leno with four minutes of normal time remaining, sparing United a result that would have been hard to defend given the balance of the game. Leno himself had kept the score respectable before that, making several full-stretch saves to stop the gap from being any wider than 1-0 while it lasted.

"I thought we should've won the game. We created enough to win the game."

— Michael Carrick, Manchester United head coach

"We were so close. So, so close. We were a little bit unlucky again."

— Álvaro Arbeloa, Fulham head coach

A shot count that says everything

The number that will stick from this one is 29 shots to 12 — United had more than double Fulham's attempts at goal, yet needed a stroke of luck to leave with anything at all. Both sides finished level on shots on target, six apiece, which is closer to the story of the actual scoreline than the gulf in overall attempts suggests. It fits a pattern for United, whose finishing has undercut a series of otherwise-dominant individual performances so far this season.

Two sides still searching

Neither club's form has offered much to build on. Fulham had lost three of their first four league games under Arbeloa, including defeats to Chelsea and Crystal Palace, and remain without a win — this draw was only their second point of the season, moving them off bottom spot but no further. United, for their part, arrived on the back of a Manchester derby defeat to Manchester City and had won only one of their first four league matches; a draw at Craven Cottage leaves them with 5 points from five games, level with Fulham's neighbours in the bottom half and, by full time, 10 points adrift of leaders Manchester City after City's win over Sunderland on the same afternoon.

Match stats

Line-ups

Álvaro Arbeloa's Fulham XI:

• B. Leno (GK)
• T. Castagne, D. Affengruber, C. Ughelumba (c), A. Robinson
• S. Berge, S. Charles
• O. Bobb, J. King, A. Iwobi, G. García

Michael Carrick's Manchester United XI:

• S. Lammens (GK)
• D. Dalot, H. Maguire, L. Martínez, L. Shaw
• K. Mainoo, Y. Tielemans
• B. Mbeumo, B. Fernandes (c), M. Rashford, M. Cunha