📅 September 19, 2026
Predicted XI v Fulham: The Everton Side With One Change, and Sesko Gets the Start
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Our predicted United XI at Craven Cottage on Sunday: Lammens; Dalot, Maguire, MartĂnez, Shaw; Mainoo, Tielemans; Mbeumo, Fernandes, Cunha; Sesko. A 4-2-3-1, eight changes from the side that lost to Brighton, and one change from the last league side that played away from home.
Sports Mole named the identical eleven on Friday. That doesn’t make it right, but it means the argument about this team is happening in the details, not the names.
One change from Everton
Strip out the cup team and the derby, and this is the side that drew 2-2 at Everton on 6 September with a single swap: Sesko for Rashford, and Cunha moving from the middle to the left. That’s the same forward line that beat Sabah 4-0, in front of the goalkeeper, back four and midfield pair that started at Everton.
It’s also the most settled United can be. Carrick made eight changes for Brighton and lost a 2-0 lead for the first time at Old Trafford in fifty years. Sunday is the last game before a three-week break, so there’s no reason to hold anyone back.
Shaw, if the “chance” becomes a yes
Shaw hasn’t been in a squad since Everton. Carrick on Friday: “There is a chance on both really. Not totally 100 per cent yet,” and on Shaw specifically, “It is really short term, to be honest.” Sports Mole reports the problem as muscular and minor.
If he’s fit he plays, because the alternative is Dorgu or Mazraoui again and United signed no defender all summer. Fulham’s right side is Timothy Castagne behind Oscar Bobb, and Antonee Robinson on the other flank is the one Fulham player who consistently gets to the byline. Shaw’s job is as much about stopping Robinson as it is about overlapping Cunha. If the team sheet says Dorgu, the shape doesn’t change; the delivery from that side does.
Maguire and MartĂnez, Dalot on the right
Six conceded in four league games, and the two centre-backs who started the Brighton game, Yoro and Heaven, were the pair Jamie Redknapp called “inept in everything they did.” Maguire and MartĂnez are the first-choice pairing and started together at Everton. Dalot at right-back over Mazraoui is the one call where the case is mostly about the other man: Mazraoui started the cup tie and was part of the collapse, and Dalot’s crossing matters more against a Fulham side that defends its box deep.
Mainoo and Tielemans, and the hole behind them
This is the pairing that started at Everton and at Sabah. Tielemans was one of the few to come out of the Brighton game with credit, a seven from United in Focus behind only Lacey, and Mainoo came on at 66 minutes to steady it. Neither is a ball-winner, and that is the honest weakness of this side.
Fulham’s pivot is Sander Berge and Shea Charles, physical rather than quick, and both Fulham home games this season finished 2-3 with the ball spending long stretches in midfield scraps. Carlos Baleba is the man signed for exactly that, and he’s “a chance” for the squad on Sunday. We’ve set out why that would be a bench place and a cameo at most. Until he’s ready, the cover for Mainoo and Tielemans is Bruno dropping in and the full-backs staying honest.
Sesko through the middle, Cunha left, Rashford out
The pick that will draw the argument. Sesko has four substitute appearances in the league and no start; his two starts this season were Sabah, where he scored, and Brighton, where he played 66 minutes with no shot and 23 touches. Zirkzee has an assist off the bench against Sabah, and Rashford’s shot produced the rebound Mount scored for 2-0 in the cup before he missed the one-on-one for 3-3.
The case for Sesko is the one we made before Everton: a runner in behind is the profile the squad lacks, and Fulham’s centre-backs, Bassey and Affengruber, will hold a line that a false nine drifts away from. Cunha on the left is not a demotion. It’s where he played against Sabah, cutting in onto his right foot with Shaw outside him, and it keeps the ball-carrier close to Bruno.
Rashford drops to the bench. Five out of ten in most Brighton ratings, and the sharpest option to change a game against tired legs in the last twenty minutes.
Bruno at ten, Mbeumo right
No version of this team exists without Fernandes at ten, and he was rested for the cup so arrives fresh. Mbeumo has Robinson to deal with going the other way, which is the one duel where United’s winger is the one who has to track back.
Fulham
Eighteenth on a point, without a league win under Arbeloa, but they drew 0-0 at Anfield last week and beat West Ham 3-2 in the cup. Kenny Tete (concussion) and Tom Cairney (knee, back around mid-October) are out, Ryan Sessegnon a doubt. Predicted: Leno; Castagne, Affengruber, Bassey, Robinson; Berge, Charles; Bobb, King, Iwobi; GarcĂa. Arbeloa prefers a 4-3-3 and may set up that way.
What would make this wrong
Shaw not making the squad is the obvious one, and Dorgu is the direct swap. The other is Carrick sticking with Rashford on the left and Cunha through the middle, the Everton shape, on the grounds that it was the last league side that scored twice. That’s a defensible choice. It’s just not the one we’d make against a back line that sits this deep.
How to watch in the United States
Sunday 20 September, 11:30 AM Eastern, 10:30 AM Central, 8:30 AM Pacific. NBC and Telemundo in the USA. Team sheets are out an hour before kick-off. The full Friday press conference has the rest of the team news.
Sources: Sports Mole’s predicted XI and its Shaw, Rashford and Sesko notes from Sports Mole, 18 September 2026. Carrick’s quotes from GiveMeSport, 18 September. Fulham’s team news, predicted line-up, midfield pairing and results from RotoWire, 18 September. Sesko’s Brighton numbers (no shots, 23 touches in 66 minutes) via CaughtOffside. Redknapp’s verdict on Yoro and Heaven from Sky Sports’ post-Brighton analysis, 17 September. The Everton, Sabah and Brighton line-ups from our own confirmed-XI coverage. Accurate as of 19 September 2026.