Manchester United sealed a 2-1 victory over Fulham away at Craven Cottage Stadium, courtesy of the late goal by Alejandro Garnacho.
First-half
The home side had a bright start when Willian served Carlos Vinícius with a pass from the left side but could only force a save out of David de Gea.
On the ninth minute, Marcus Rashford laid the ball to Anthony Martial but the Frenchman effort was deflected into the path of Ben Leno.
Manchester United opened the scoresheet following an interchange of passes between Martial and Bruno Fernandes.
The latter served Christian Eriksen with a pass and the Danish international strucked home to hand the visitors an early lead. Eriksen joined Peter Schmeichel as the only Danes to score for Manchester United.
Christian missed an opportunity to double the lead following a quality pass from Fernandes. This could have been the second goal for Eriksen in a red shirt.
Fulham largely dominated the first-half but went into the break with a one goal deficit, thanks to a goal by Eriksen.
Second-half
Three minutes into the second-half Bruno played a quality pass to Anthony Elanga but the latter had his shot saved by Leno. The follow up from Rashford was blocked wide.
Two minutes later David de Gea’s heroics denied the hosts an equalizer. The Spaniard saved a header by Vinícius from close range.
On the 50th minute, Martial blasted a shot on target but the former Arsenal goalkeeper rose to the occasion to deny the Franchman a goal.
On the 63rd minute the former Manchester United forward Daniel James handed the visitors an equalizer, thanks to a pass by Tom Cairney from the left.
According to TalkSPORT, James is the tenth player to score against the Red Daveils having previously played for them.
Ten minutes later de Gea denied João Palhinha a goal. David continued where he left off following his brilliant display against Real Sociedad and Aston Villa.
Fulham pushed for the second goal until Luke Shaw played a quality cross to Scott McTominay but the Scottish midfielder headed over the bar.
Alejandro Garnacho scored deep in stoppage time to hand Manchester United a victory. The Argentine had an interchange of passes with Eriksen before he struck the back of the net.
Alejandro Garnacho shines
Garnacho has had a great season for Manchester United and he is a huge admirer of Erik ten Hag. On post-match interview, the boss praised Garnacho.
According to the Mirror, ten Hag said: “‘Well done!’ It’s clear, it’s a massive win. Alejandro Garnacho had a big impact in the win, he [finished] also.”
“The spotlight is on that and that is also justified because it was a great finish, because that is what you expect from subs coming in.”
“I am really happy with his progress. We have an extra player in the squad and I’m happy for the academy that we bring out the player, the coaches, really well done, good work, great.”
“I want to emphasise the way we scored that goal all the way from the back to the front, outplayed, composure and I think it was a massive brilliant assist from Christian Eriksen.”
“It would be weird if I said I knew before now. It’s a little bit, let’s say, the feeling that you have but also you need an eye for it, yes. But sometimes I’m wrong as well,” added the United boss.
“But in this case, we had a discussion with my coaches and I saw his improvement in the last months, you could see his potential and for me.”
“It was the point to bring him in that he had such an impact but you can’t think that before.”
“But he has and this shows what talents can do, but it is still a long way to go. He has to keep his feet on the ground.”
“It’s the whole team now, he has to do much more investment because he will be recognisable for everyone.”
