Manchester United find themselves in yet another crisis as they travel to London to take on Fulham in the Premier League this weekend.
Fulham are currently 18th in the Premier League with one point from four games. It's been a very difficult start to the season for Fulham under new boss Alvaro Arbeloa, whose introduction to English football has been sobering.
The Cottagers started the season with consecutive defeats at the hands of Chelsea (2-3), Sunderland (1-0) and Crystal Palace (2-3), piling early pressure on the Spaniard.
However, they managed to hold Liverpool to a 0-0 draw at Anfield in their most recent Premier League game in a much improved performance that will give the team serious confidence heading into this one. The Cottagers showed a level of fight and resolve that had been absent from their earlier performances and will be necessary to maintain here.
Man United, meanwhile, come into this game in disarray. The Red Devils had a rocky start to the season in losing to newly promoted Hull City and drawing with Everton, but things have gotten immeasurably worse in the last week as Michael Carrick's side lost the derby 0-1 to a ten-man Manchester City side before sacrificing a two-goal lead to lose 2-3 at home to Brighton in the EFL Cup in midweek.
Not only the results, but the nature of the performances and the lack of intensity has been hugely concerning and symptomatic of a team that is well, well below par.
The Old Trafford crowd became audibly irritated against Brighton in a way that suggested patience is wearing extremely thin. The pressure on the team to get a result against Fulham, then, is huge.
Both of these sides have been involved in a number of high-scoring games of late, with over 2.5 goals being scored in three of Fulham's last five games and four of Man United's last five.
We expect this to be a high scoring affair, but with little to separate the sides in terms of recent performance levels a draw seems a logical outcome.
Fulham 2-2 Man United
