{"id":48693,"date":"2026-02-02T06:13:06","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T06:13:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/?p=48693"},"modified":"2026-02-02T06:13:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T06:13:08","slug":"premier-league-manchester-united-3-2-fulham","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/2026\/02\/02\/premier-league-manchester-united-3-2-fulham\/","title":{"rendered":"Premier League: Manchester United 3-2 Fulham"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Benjamin Sesko will never forget the stoppage-time pirouette and finish in front of the Stretford End that burst Bernd Leno\u2019s net and earned Manchester United<\/a> a memorable victory over Fulham.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just 180 seconds earlier Kevin had curled a peach of an equaliser past Senne Lammens that hushed the Old Trafford faithful and seemed to have grabbed a point for the visitors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Dominic<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWho are you?\u201d roared the away supporters but the taunts were now returned by those of a United persuasion. Bruno Fernandes ran down the right, crossed, and Sesko did the rest, the grin from the striker, on as a replacement, lighting his face in ecstasy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asked if this late winner had United\u2019s DNA on it, Michael Carrick gushed. \u201cIt\u2019s the best feeling, I have to say,\u201d said the interim manager. \u201cSome of the best moments that I\u2019ve been lucky enough to be a part of [as a United player] have come when you get a moment of elation like that. There\u2019s no better place, in front of the Stretford End and it ends up meaning a bit more. I think people leave here with more than United winning today. It kind of puts layers on top of that and the connection \u2013 it\u2019s why we all love it so much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe excitement that\u2019s part of this club and it\u2019s not always the easiest way, we\u2019d like to win games a little bit more comfortably than that. But certainly when they come along, it\u2019s pretty special.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sesko\u2019s was the third senses-tingling strike of a life-affirming second half. The first came from Matheus Cunha whose choice of celebration in front of the Stretford End was to dance after a strike reminiscent of the many which have illuminated this venue down the years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Matheus<\/a>
Matheus Cunha doubles Manchester United\u2019s lead.Photograph: Dave Thompson\/AP<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

From outside Fulham\u2019s area, to the right of the D, Casemiro slid a no-look pass in behind. His fellow Brazilian Cunha hurtled forward and, with the angle closing, smashed his right boot through the ball to beat Leno.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cue a spreading of arms in a surfing-like action that might have come straight from the wave-riders of Copacabana beach, the winger\u2019s finish following Casemiro\u2019s first-half opener. This delighted United and their afternoon continued to be rosy when Jorge Cuenca was again affected by the video assistant referee, James Bell, after his lead role in Casemiro\u2019s opener.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ra\u00fal Jim\u00e9nez\u2019s free-kick hit United\u2019s wall inside the area, Samuel Chukwueze\u2019s effort struck Lisandro Mart\u00ednez and broke for the Spaniard to score. But, after a prolonged review, Bell adjudged Chukwueze to be offside, though the image used by the VAR seemed inconclusive. Fulham were far better after the break and scored a late Jim\u00e9nez penalty, after Harry Maguire had chopped the Mexican down, before Kevin\u2019s goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet the spoils go to United, after their third consecutive victory under Carrick, which came via a front-foot display that featured two first-half penalty claims involving Cuenca \u2013 one denied and one given by the referee, John Brooks, before the VAR overturned the decision but awarded a free-kick for an earlier infringement that created Casemiro\u2019s finish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Fulham\u2019s<\/a>
Fulham\u2019s Marco Silva (left) was unhappy with the officiating at Old Trafford. Photograph: Phil Noble\/Reuters<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

First Brooks correctly denied Bryan Mbeumo a spot-kick because Cuenca took the ball first. But when the centre-back upended Cunha, Brooks pointed to the spot but had missed that the Spaniard had taken the ball before man. The penalty decision was overturned but the VAR indicated Cuenca had grabbed Cunha before he ran into the area and a foul was given.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the free-kick, Fernandes picked out Casemiro at the back post and he headed home to Marco Silva\u2019s all-round disgust, the Portuguese booked for his protests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Silva\u2019s argument was that the VAR had effectively re-refereed Brooks\u2019s decision and decided on a different infringement. \u201cThe penalty was given for the tackle,\u201d he said. \u201cAfter, because the decision was so bad, they found a different foul. The story of the game started with [this] horrendous, terrible decision from John Brooks with the penalty he gave. Horrendous decision from that moment \u2013 big mistake. It was the first time we saw all the Premier League<\/a> fans and us coaches and players. We have to take all this frustration to win the next one.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Benjamin<\/a>
Benjamin Sesko fires home the stoppage-time winner.Photograph: Phil Noble\/Reuters<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

United had a flow seen rarely in recent years, an ease of play that had Kobbie Mainoo drifting a ball into the area that a flying Fernandes just missed and Amad Diallo, cantering to halfway, squaring inside to his captain, and Fernandes sweeping the ball left to Cunha.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the technical area Carrick emanated a cool persona that his players could feed off. The move they ended the first half with was illustrative \u2013 a Fernandes backheel into Amad that was as nonchalant as the winger\u2019s swivel-and-unload which was deflected for a corner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now came Fulham\u2019s upturn in performance. A clever Alex Iwobi chip to Lammens\u2019s right-post was hit back across goal and Mart\u00ednez cleared. The rest of the half was breathless, featuring Cunha\u2019s goal, Cuenca\u2019s disallowed strike, and Sesko heading against a post before Kevin\u2019s finish and the Slovene\u2019s winner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beforehand, The 1958 fan group, staged its latest action against United\u2019s ownership. A march featuring about 500 supporters was directed at Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the largest single minority owner, in addition to the Glazers, the majority proprietors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Benjamin Sesko will never forget the stoppage-time pirouette and finish in front of the Stretford End that burst Bernd Leno\u2019s net and earned Manchester United a memorable victory over Fulham. Just 180 seconds earlier Kevin had curled a peach of an equaliser past Senne Lammens that hushed the Old Trafford faithful and seemed to have grabbed a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":48694,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_post_source_name":"","_post_source_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3295],"tags":[7477,12374,5522,1725,7452,13150,12891,10552,10739,1917,9026,7470,5247,7619,7090,7985,69,491,9410,3874,7622,6220,5460,11743,12791,11252,115,3797,6491,170,13256,267,12917,12890,7733,5818,7419,6348,10885,8033,594],"class_list":["post-48693","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-sport","tag-amad","tag-amad-diallo","tag-arms","tag-brazilian","tag-bruno-fernandes","tag-carrick","tag-cuhna","tag-dance","tag-display","tag-dna","tag-fans","tag-fernandes","tag-football","tag-fulham","tag-games","tag-glazers","tag-harry","tag-harry-maguire","tag-jim-ratcliffe","tag-lead","tag-lighting","tag-love","tag-maguire","tag-majority","tag-manager","tag-manchester","tag-manchester-united","tag-mexican","tag-michael-carrick","tag-old-trafford","tag-players","tag-premier-league","tag-ratcliffe","tag-sasko","tag-sir-jim-ratcliffe","tag-strike","tag-the-game","tag-us","tag-victory","tag-video","tag-who"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48693","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48693"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48693\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48695,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48693\/revisions\/48695"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}