Key events
8 min: Muniz returns the favour, teeing up Traore just inside the United box on the right. Traore leans back and blazes wildly into the Stretford End. It’s hardly an original observation, but if Traore could finish, he’d be borderline unplayable.
7 min: Traore goes on a barrelling run down the right touchline. He knocks the ball past Martinez, backing himself in a footrace. He wins it easily, tearing away from the defender. He enters the box and has the option to shoot from a tight angle, but opts to pull back for Muniz instead. A generous decision, but the wrong one as Muniz is crowded out. United were exposed there.
6 min: Pereira takes the free kick himself. It’s a poor one, deflected high into the air, easy pickings for Onana.
5 min: Fulham respond with some possession of their own, Iwobi popping up a couple of times out on the left, Pereira then drawing a foul from Diallo out on the right. Free kick to Fulham. Everyone lines up on the edge of the United box.
3 min: United have started confidently. Casemiro is seeing a fair bit of the ball in the centre of the park; Rashford has had a couple of gentle probes down the left too. “Looking forward to enjoying more of the Scholes-endorsed Mainoo this season and to see whether Smith Rowe thrives in those pocket areas his manager mentioned,” writes Justin Kavanagh. “Watching United last season, it wasn’t so much a case of having their pockets picked occasionally in midfield, so much as being regularly detrousered altogether.”
2 min: Fulham are kicking towards the Stretford End in this first half. “For Alex Iwobi, read Emile Smith Rowe,” begins Charles Antaki. “He leaves, as fellow-academy product Iwobi did, waved off with a tear in the eye and a blessing from the Arsenal faithful. May he prosper and score buckets, staring this evening and perhaps keeping one or two in reserve for the meetings with City. We’ll never know whether he leaves with regrets (though probably) or excitement and anticipation at getting a proper run in a decent team (also probably). The best of luck to him.”
20 seconds: Rashford is sent scampering clear down the left, but there’s to be no lightning start by the hosts, as the flag pops up for offside.
Here we go, then, as Fulham get the first match of the new Premier League season underway. But not before the knee of justice is taken. Andreas Pereira with 2024-25’s first kick of the ball. “I don’t have any Man U or Fulham defenders in my FPL team, so I’m confident of a 6-6 draw,” predicts Chloë Vaughan.
The teams are out! Expectation crackles around a packed Old Trafford as United and Fulham take to the field in their fetching new Adidas strips. Three bars ahoy! Trefoils to come. The hosts in red, the visitors in white, a classic look that acts as balm for tired eyes. There’s been plenty of noise ever since United’s quartet of new signings – the aforementioned Mazraoui, De Ligt and Zirkzee, plus the crocked Leny Yoro – were announced to the crowd a few minutes ago. The 2024-25 Premier League season kicks off in two or three of your Lancastrian minutes!
Wild Pre-season Optimism corner. “The fact that we won at Old Trafford last season and that we’ll be top of the league if we win tonight is leading to an unrealistic level of excitement at Craven Cottage en Occitanie. The presence of my Fulham supporting daughter here on holiday with us is just a further sign that only one result is possible tonight. May I be the first this season to intone that it’s the hope that kills you” – Richard Hirst
“So excited for the return of ‘proper’ football. I more or less had a year off from it last season, fed up with VAR, diving, arguing with refs, timewasting, and endless, endless post-match discussion of offside calls. But I’m back, baby. I’m in the works fantasy league, I’ve organised a score-prediction competition and I’m positively champing at the bit right now.
“8.05pm: Bruno collapses in agony after Robinson scowls at him, and earns a yellow card for the Fulham player. See you in August 2025” – Nathan Fisher
“Would United losing tonight do for their season what your uncle does for the family gathering the first time he mentions ‘woke mind virus’?” – Matthew Carpenter-Arevalo
“Ten Hag didn’t deliver the goods last season. And he won’t this season” – Jeff Sax
Marco Silva speaks to Sky Sports. “There are not going to be any surprises from Manchester United, I know how they are going to line up … it is always possible to improve … we lost four or five key players … starting XI players … but we made three signings … the pre-season has been really good … some really good games … we need some new signings to make an impact … we are going to sign more players … one player for [the departed João Palhinha’s] position … [Emile Smith Rowe] is going to give us something extra in the pocket areas … I am delighted to have him with us.”
History suggests Fulham are up against it tonight. They’ve played Manchester United on 91 previous occasions, winning just 15 times and losing 56. They’ve only won at Old Trafford twice in the last 50 years. But – and in football there’s always a but, isn’t there – one of those two wins came just six months ago, and fully deserved it was too. Here’s a reminder of what happened.
Pre-season reading. Get it while your optimism levels remain at 110 percent.
A relaxed Erik ten Hag speaks to Sky Sports. “Of course we are ready … we are very excited for the new season … we want to go forward … we have a strong belief we can go forward … we developed young players … they are more mature … they really contribute … it fits the DNA of Manchester United … proactive, dynamic, speed … we worked a lot on [4-2-2-2] last season … it fits very good for us … always you have to do things better … we improved in the last games of last season and pre-season … I am happy with the process we are now in … [Mazraoui] is quick, good agility, and can contribute to your build-up and attacking game … he can go forward and is quite good on the ball … we can’t stand still [on transfers] … it depends what happens in the market … but I am happy with the squad … I am quite confident for this season … there is a lot of communication [with the new sporting directors] so we are all on one page and on board … it feels good … a good vibe in the club as well as the team … a good start is important … a good foundation for the rest of the season … not everything will be 100 percent but we must get a result, get a win.”
Manchester United give a full debut to their new right-back Noussair Mazraoui. The club’s other available summer signings, Matthijs de Ligt and Joshua Zirkzee, are on the bench.
Fulham also have a debutant in their starting XI: Emile Smith Rowe. Jorge Cuenca, freshly signed from Villarreal, is on the bench.
The teams
Manchester United: Onana, Dalot, Maguire, Martinez, Mazraoui, Mainoo, Casemiro, Diallo, Mount, Rashford, Bruno Fernandes.
Subs: Bayindir, de Ligt, Zirkzee, Eriksen, Garnacho, Antony, Evans, McTominay, Collyer.
Fulham: Leno, Tete, Diop, Bassey, Robinson, Lukic, Smith Rowe, Traore, Andreas Pereira, Iwobi, Rodrigo Muniz.
Subs: Benda, Reed, Jimenez, Wilson, Cairney, Cuenca, Castagne, King, Stansfield.
Referee: Robert Jones (Merseyside).
Preamble
Sound on! Vision on! Welcome, welcome, welcome home to the Premier League! And to borrow the words of legendary ITN newscaster Leonard Parkin: good evening again, it’s good to be back again, so let me simply say, let’s get on with it. Kick-off is at 8pm BST. It’s on!