📅 September 20, 2026

Fulham 1-1 Manchester United: 29 Shots, One Point, and a Deflection to Save It

By Mav Jones · Manchester United fan writer

Twenty-nine shots. One point. Manchester United drew 1-1 at Craven Cottage after Lisandro Martinez turned Calvin Bassey’s shot into his own net on 63 minutes, and they needed a deflection off a Fulham centre-back in the 89th to avoid losing to the team that started the day bottom of the Premier League.

Opta counts 29 shots for United and 12 for Fulham. Six on target each. That’s the afternoon in one line.

The own goal

Bassey shrugged Matheus Cunha off the ball and hit it, Senne Lammens got a hand to it, and the rebound came back off Martinez and over the line. Sky Sports called it a horror own goal and that’s about right.

Opta says it’s Martinez’s third own goal in the Premier League, which is the joint-most of any Manchester United player. He’d had a header saved by Bernd Leno at the other end inside ten minutes, which is the sort of afternoon it was.

United shot and shot and shot

Bruno Fernandes hit the post on 25 minutes after a Cunha cutback. Cunha hit the far post six minutes later. Leno saved from Bryan Mbeumo on 67 and went full stretch to keep Cunha out on 74. United won 13 corners. Fulham won three.

And none of it was worth much. Opta’s expected goals put United on 1.59 and Fulham on 1.57, so 29 shots produced almost exactly what Fulham’s 12 did. Fulham had three big chances, United had two. Volume is not the same thing as threat, and United have spent the last month proving it.

Opta has two records out of this. The 26 shots in the first half are the most in any goalless Premier League first half since its shot data began in 2003-04. And United have hit the woodwork six times already this season, more than any other side and more than they’ve managed in the first five games of any campaign on record.

Cunha got the deflection

Patrick Dorgu, on for Luke Shaw five minutes earlier, found Cunha on the edge of the box. The shot took a heavy deflection off David Affengruber, Leno went the wrong way, and it went in on 89 minutes.

Carrick afterwards: “I thought we should’ve won the game, we created enough to win the game.” Alvaro Arbeloa, whose side is still waiting for a first win under him: “We were so close. So, so close. We were a little bit unlucky again.”

Both of them are describing the same 90 minutes and both are right, which tells you how thin the margin was.

Baleba never got on

Carlos Baleba was named on the bench for the first time and stayed there. United made three substitutions: Josh Zirkzee for Marcus Rashford on 77, Mason Mount for Kobbie Mainoo on 80, Dorgu for Shaw on 84. The debut against his old club waits until after the international break.

Benjamin Sesko wasn’t in the squad at all, as the confirmed team sheet showed an hour before kick-off. So Carrick spent the afternoon with Cunha leading the line, no recognised centre-forward to bring on, and a bench whose only striker was Zirkzee.

Where it leaves them

United are 12th with five points from five games. That’s their joint-fewest at this stage of a Premier League season, level with 2014-15, and Carrick is averaging a point a game in the league this season. The table has them level on points with Nottingham Forest and ten behind Manchester City at the top.

It’s one point better than losing, and after what happened against Brighton on Wednesday, a defeat here would have started a different conversation. But the honest reading is that United created enough to win comfortably at a side who hadn’t won a league game all season, and didn’t.

Fulham stay 19th on two points. Opta says it’s their longest winless start to a league season since 2020-21.

Three weeks off now. Tottenham at home on 10 October, with Amad Diallo, Matthijs de Ligt and Baleba all due back around then, and with Sesko’s problem still unexplained.

Sources: Score, scorers, minutes, substitutions and the shot and corner counts from SofaScore’s match feed for the fixture (event 16363652) and ESPN’s team stats for game 401878777, which agree on shots (29 to 12), shots on target (6 each), corners (13 to 3) and big chances (3 to 2). Goal descriptions, the chances at 10, 25, 31, 67 and 74 minutes, and both managers’ quotes from Sky Sports’ match report, 20 September 2026. Expected goals (1.59 to 1.57), Martinez’s third Premier League own goal, the 26-shot goalless first half, United’s six woodwork strikes, the five points from five games and Fulham’s winless run all from Opta Analyst’s stats piece on the match, 20 September 2026. League positions from the Premier League table after all 20 September fixtures, computed on our own standings page from results verified against Soccerbase and SofaScore. Sky reports Fulham moved off bottom spot on goal difference with the draw. Possession figures differ between sources and are not quoted here.