How to watch and follow United v Fulham

The Reds are looking to complete a perfect month in the division, after seeing off Wolverhampton Wanderers, West Ham United, Aston Villa and, most recently, Luton Town, ahead of the Emirates FA Cup fifth-round visit to Nottingham Forest on 28 February. 

Our visitors will be hoping to halt a sequence of 18 games without victory in this fixture, having pushed the Reds close in several recent meetings.

Here’s everything you need to know before the 15:00 GMT kick-off…

HOW TO WATCH AND FOLLOW

Our meeting with the Cottagers will not be broadcast live on television in the UK, due to the starting slot, but you will be able to enjoy over an hour of exclusive pre-match build-up by tuning into MUTV’s Matchday Live show, on air from 13:55 GMT.

Wes Brown and Danny Webber will be our guests pitchside and the show is available to watch not only on MUTV but via ManUtd.com and the United App, where you can also see matchday interviews, live stats and updates from Old Trafford via our Match Centre.

Radio commentary, from Liam Bradford and Mickey Thomas, will also be available across our official platforms, while short match highlights will be published exactly two hours after the final whistle. Extended versions will be viewable on demand from the early hours of Sunday morning.

TEAM NEWS

Luke Shaw is United’s main fitness concern, with the left-back having been replaced by Victor Lindelof in each of our last two league games. Shaw departed the pitch at half-time of the win at Villa Park 10 days ago but was fit enough to start against Luton on Sunday. However, our no.23 was substituted prior to the break at Kenilworth Road.

Casemiro and Harry Maguire were also absent for the second period in Bedfordshire, although Ten Hag suggested those substitutions, for Scott McTominay and Jonny Evans respectively, were tactical due to the former pair being on bookings. Tyrell Malacia, Mason Mount and Aaron Wan-Bissaka are still to return to contention, while Anthony Martial and Lisandro Martinez are longer-term absentees.

Fulham will be without key man Joao Palhinha, who became the first player this season to reach 10 yellow cards during their weekend defeat to Villa. The Portuguese midfielder now faces a two-game ban.

Calvin Bassey and Alex Iwobi have returned to the squad following their involvement in the Africa Cup of Nations, where they finished runners-up with Nigeria, but Raul Jimenez is sidelined with a hamstring issue, while Armando Broja (virus) and Kenny Tete (Achilles) are doubts.

OUR OPPONENTS

The Cottagers sit 12th in the Premier League, two places below the position they finished last term in their first season back since promotion.

Marco Silva’s men have been up and down in terms of form, with back-to-back 5-0 wins over Nottingham Forest and West Ham United in December, and the victory over title-chasing Arsenal later that month, being the undoubted highlights.

Each of those successes came on the banks of the River Thames and Fulham have generally been good on their own patch, claiming 22 of their 29 points there. However, the capital club haven’t won away from home since the opening day at Everton, a run of 11 games.

The summer departure of Aleksandar Mitrovic means the goals have been spread around in the league, with Bobby Decordova-Reid, Willian and Jimenez each netting five times. The suspended Palhinha is the league’s top tackler, managing 105 so far, while left-back Anthonee Robinson has the most interceptions (63).

FORM GUIDE

United are looking to record five successive top-flight victories for the first time since January last year, while a goal for Rasmus Hojlund would make him only the second Red, after Ruud van Nistelrooy, to net in their seven straight Premier League games.

This is just our third home outing since Boxing Day, with a 2-2 draw against Tottenham in January being followed by a 3-0 success over West Ham at the beginning of this month.

The Cottagers have won just one of their five outings since the memorable victory over Arsenal on New Year’s Eve. A narrow defeat to local rivals Chelsea at Stamford Bridge was followed up by draws with Everton and Burnley, with the Clarets recovering from two goals down to equalise late on.

A brace by Rodrigo Muniz helped Silva’s side impressively beat Bournemouth in London, before Aston Villa took home all three points from the Cottage on Saturday – Unai Emery’s men were only the second team to win at Fulham’s home since United did so in early November.

RECENT MEETINGS

Bruno Fernandes's stoppage-time strike settled the reverse fixture in west London, 12 months on from Alejandro Garnacho similarly winning a game late on for United at Craven Cottage.

The Reds also defeated Fulham twice at Old Trafford last term, dramatically doing so in an FA Cup quarter-final from 1-0 down. With 20 minutes to play, Willian, Mitrovic and Silva himself were all given their marching orders by referee Chris Kavanagh and United eventually won 3-1, courtesy of Marcel Sabitzer's flick and a Bruno Fernandes brace.

We were also triumphant on the last day of the league season, again coming from behind, this time to prevail 2-1, with Bruno again on the scoresheet, alongside Jadon Sancho.

RIVALS WATCH

With the Carabao Cup final between Liverpool and Chelsea taking place at 15:00 GMT on Sunday, there are only eight Premier League fixtures this weekend…

SATURDAY 24 FEBRUARY

Aston Villa v Nottingham Forest
Brighton v Everton
Crystal Palace v Burnley
UNITED v Fulham
Bournemouth v Manchester City (17:30 GMT)
Arsenal v Newcastle (20:00 GMT)

SUNDAY 25 FEBRUARY

Wolves v Sheffield United (13:30 GMT)

MONDAY 26 FEBRUARY

West Ham v Brentford (20:00 GMT)