Alex Iwobi’s stunning 97th-minute goal broke Manchester United’s undefeated streak in 2024, as a tenacious Fulham grabbed a well-deserved victory that appeared to have gone up in flames with only a few minutes remaining.
Harry Maguire‘s poacher’s finish with a minute remaining in regular time looked to have saved the Red Devils, who had been second-best for much of the game against the Londoners.
But, after grabbing a merited early lead with 25 minutes to go when Calvin Bassey slammed home a loose ball from a corner, Iwobi handed the Cottagers a historic victory by latching onto Adama Traore’s brilliantly weighted pass and firing past Andre Onana.
Maguire had missed a header minutes before his equalizer, which appeared to be enough to keep United unblemished until Iwobi’s heroics.
Erik ten Hag’s side struggled without the prolific Rasmus Hojlund, who will also miss the Manchester derby next week due to injury, while Marco Silva’s risk came off as he made six changes to his starting line-up.
Casemiro was also forced off for the Reds following a violent head contact with Harrison Reed, although he was allowed to leave the pitch on his own accord.
But Fulham deserve all of the attention since they ended their own run of bad form and ensured Manchester United’s Jim Ratcliffe era began with a whimper rather than a bang.
They won only their second game of 2024 against Premier League opponents, having been eliminated from both cup tournaments in January, and began the day nine points above the relegation zone.
They rallied around Silva, who omitted Willian from the matchday roster entirely in favour of Iwobi and made four other unnecessary changes to the lineup that lost to Aston Villa a week earlier.
