Fulham host Manchester United in the Premier League on Sunday afternoon in a match of huge importance for both Alvaro Arbeloa and Michael Carrick. We look back at some of the Cottagers' biggest wins over the Red Devils.
Fulham are taking on Manchester United on Sunday in their final match before the international break.
It caps of a desperately difficult start to the season, in which they have faced Chelsea, Sunderland, Crystal Palace and Liverpool to give Alvaro Arbeloa a nightmare start to the campaign.
The Cottagers have just a point to show for their efforts but it would appear that the initial issues were merely teething problems, with positive results coming against both West Ham and Liverpool last week.
Now they look at Michael Carrick’s men as their final game of the initial block of fixtures and Arbeloa will be desperate to cap the first run of games with a positive result.
Fulham beating Manchester United is not a particularly common occurrence, but there have certainly been a good set of victories for the Cottagers over the Red Devils.
Arbeloa himself may take inspiration from Fulham’s most famous victories over United and we look at four famous triumphs.
Manchester United 1-2 Fulham - February 24, 2024
Wins do not get much more dramatic than this one and one of the best parts of it is that several of the squad involved that day remain at the squad today and could well use this for inspiration this weekend.
Calvin Bassey gave Fulham the lead after 65 minutes and it looked as though that was going to be enough for the Cottagers to end a losing streak against the Red Devils that had spanned almost 15 years.
But Harry Maguire’s 89th minute goal looked set to spare Erik Ten Hag’s blushes and ensure United walked away with at the very least a point.
Fulham were not done yet though, and Alex Iwobi found the net in the 97th minute as the Cottagers walked away with a famous win that will be remembered for years to come.
Fulham 3-0 Manchester United - December 19, 2009
I said earlier that Fulham wins over Manchester United are not common and I meant it, with the most recent one before February 2024 coming way back in December 2009.
That victory was far more routine, with Fulham far too good for Sir Alex Ferguson’s United at Craven Cottage that day.
Danny Murphy put the home side a goal up after 22 minutes and in the second half, Bobby Zamora extended that lead.
Then, 15 minutes from the end, Damien Duff completed the rout in one of Fulham’s best days of the 21st century.
Fulham 2-0 Manchester United - March 21, 2009
Fulham may have had to wait 15 years between their most recent and second most recent triumph over United, but before that it was only nine months.
Back at Craven Cottage, against a Champions League-winning Manchester United side, Fulham were able to once again come up trumps.
Paul Scholes was sent off in the 18th minute, and Danny Murphy scored from the spot due to Scholes’ foul, in a match that had eight cards in total.
Zoltan Gera sealed the win three minutes from time, before Wayne Rooney was sent off for a second yellow card in the 89th minute.
Manchester United 1-3 Fulham - October 25, 2003
Six years before that, Fulham were at it again, this time though at Old Trafford.
Lee Clark opened the scoring after three minutes, but Diego Forlan’s equaliser at half-time looked like it was going to put an end to their hopes of a first win over the Red Devils since 1964.
But in the second half, Steed Malbranque and then Junichi Inamoto scored for the Cottagers to ensure they did just that and landed a first win at Old Trafford in 50 years.
