Manchester United grabbed an all important victory to relieve the pressure on manager Erik Ten Hag, as Bruno Fernandes struck in stoppage time to secure a 1-0 win over Fulham in the Premier League on Saturday.
After back-to-back 3-0 defeats against Manchester City and Newcastle, questions were increasingly being asked of the manager, and eyebrows were raised before kick-off when Marcus Rashford was left out of the squad.
According to Sky Sports, Man Utd explained that the forward – who was criticised by Ten Hag on Friday for going out to celebrate his birthday in the wake of the defeat to City – was injured.
Marcus Rashford watched the match from the stands after being left out of the Man Utd match-day squad.
In Rashford’s place, it was McTominay who found the net for what he thought was his fourth goal in as many Premier League games – only for the officials to decide Harry Maguire was marginally offside in the build-up after a lengthy review.
Man Utd rarely troubled Fulham’s goal again – until Joao Palhinha’s scuffed clearance found Fernandes on the edge of the area, with the captain squeezing a finish inside the near post and providing a much-needed boost to his embattled manager.
“With the goal, you could see the belief of everyone, fighting for that ball.
“It’s really important. We know the position we are in … we need to get points to start building something. We have to start somewhere because we’ve got big games coming,” Fernandes said after another half-hearted performance by United, which had lost eight of its first 15 matches in all competitions this season.
