Matheus Cunha snatches late Manchester United point at Fulham

Matheus Cunha’s deflected 89th-minute strike denied Fulham victory and spared Manchester United a third successive defeat, as the sides drew 1-1 at Craven Cottage on Sunday evening.

Fulham had appeared set to claim all three points after Lisandro Martinez turned Calvin Bassey’s shot into his own net in the 63rd minute. But Cunha’s late effort took a huge deflection on its way past Bernd Leno.

The result left Michael Carrick’s Manchester United in 12th place with five points from their opening five Premier League matches. Alvaro Arbeloa’s Fulham remain 19th, with two points.

Fulham began positively, with Antonee Robinson finding Gonzalo Garcia, who dragged a shot wide from the edge of the area. United responded when Youri Tielemans’ cross forced Bruno Fernandes to win a corner, before Martinez drew an excellent two-handed save from Leno with a powerful effort.

Garcia narrowly missed Alex Iwobi’s cross, while Josh King also went close after being found by Oscar Bobb. At the other end, Marcus Rashford headed over from Bryan Mbeumo’s cross and Diogo Dalot curled wide.

Fernandes thought he had put United ahead in the 25th minute, but his shot struck the post after Cunha had outmuscled David Affengruber and supplied a precise cut-back.

Senne Lammens then saved well from Sander Berge, while Bobb fired wide following a fine turn inside the area. Cunha hit the frame of the goal after his effort took a substantial deflection away from Leno, only for Fulham to break quickly. Lammens produced another excellent save with his outstretched right boot to keep out King.

Rashford’s effort in the 40th minute lacked the power to beat Leno. It was the 23rd attempt of a match that had produced more shots than any other Premier League game this season without a goal, and the first half eventually ended with 26 chances.

Lammens raced from his line to deny Iwobi before Rashford side-footed over with the final significant chance of an entertaining opening period.

The tempo dropped after the interval. Tielemans released Rashford down the left in the 53rd minute, but the England forward’s attempt to square for Mbeumo was cut out by Robinson.

Fulham took the lead shortly after the hour. Iwobi’s shot was deflected wide by Dalot, then Bassey’s effort struck Lammens’ knees and rebounded off Martinez into the net.

Leno kept out Mbeumo’s curling attempt with one hand in the 67th minute and later denied Cunha after the United forward created a shooting opportunity between two defenders. Lammens parried a Kevin effort as both teams made changes.

Cesar Palacios and Kevin replaced Iwobi and Bobb, while Hugo Larsson came on for Berge. Fulham also introduced Rodrigo Muniz and Joachim Andersen for Garcia and King, with Joshua Zirkzee replacing Rashford and Mason Mount taking over from Kobbie Mainoo for United.

Patrick Dorgu replaced Luke Shaw with five minutes remaining. Affengruber headed away a Mbeumo delivery, and a VAR check found no handball from the resulting corner.

United dominated possession late on, and Cunha’s deflected shot finally beat Leno to secure a point before the three-week international break.