Manchester United managed a hard-fought 1-0 victory against Fulham on Sunday, courtesy of a deflected long-range strike from Lisandro Martínez.
The breakthrough came in the 78th minute when Martínez’s ambitious effort took a wicked deflection off Sasa Lukic, looping over Fulham goalkeeper Bernd Leno and into the net.
The win provided much-needed relief for United head coach Ruben Amorim, whose side had suffered a heavy defeat to Brighton the previous weekend, marking their sixth loss in nine Premier League matches.
Martínez’s goal was enough to secure all three points, but Fulham came close to leveling the score late in the game.
Toby Collyer, a Fulham academy product, heroically cleared Joachim Andersen’s header off the line in the dying stages. Substitute Rodrigo Muniz then spurned a golden chance in stoppage time, firing well over the bar from close range.
United had a chance to seal the result moments later when Amad combined skillfully with Kobbie Mainoo before finding the net, but the goal was disallowed for offside.
“I think I was lucky, but an important win,” Martínez told TNT Sports. “I am happy with the way we won the game. It doesn’t matter who scores — the most important is the three points.
“It means a lot. Not only to the fans, but for us because we have suffered a lot. It is a hard win, at this club the pressure is hard, but we are here. We know how difficult it is. Even a game like today we have to win and be humble after winning.”
Despite the victory, United remain in 12th place in the table, trailing 10th-placed Fulham by four points.
Fulham head coach Marco Silva expressed frustration with the outcome, “One shot on target from Man Utd — a lucky deflection. We were the team that dominated more. We had two or three good moments to score but I don’t remember one dangerous moment from Man Utd.”
