Much Old Trafford attention will be focused on a 20 year old defender who has only made a handful of Premier League appearances in his fledgling career. Sir Alex Ferguson saw enough potential in Fulham’s Chris Smalling however that he was determined to beat stiff opposition from Arsenal in order to sign the highly rated England Under 21 centre back for a reported £10million.
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In an action-packed game at Craven Cottage Fulham beat nine-man Manchester United 2-0, their first win at home against the Red Devils in over 44 years. Sir Alex Ferguson left Rooney on the bench and opted for a five man midfield with Berbatov the lone attacker and Ronaldo being given a free role behind him.

Fulham named the same team that beat Bolton last week. The home started off in the ascendancy with Clint Dempsey nearly scoring with a low drive. Then Berbatov had a clear header but directed it wide.

The hosts were in control of the pace of the game for long periods of the first half with Bobby Zamora in particular spurning the best chance by driving wide of the goal on 15 minutes. Read the full story

Manchester United go into the game at Craven Cottage four points ahead of Chelsea and Liverpool at the top of the table and smarting after their first home league defeat of the season to bitter rivals Liverpool. Sir Alex Ferguson intimated after the defeat that they need to show the character of champions and bounce back straight away to winning form, form that has seen them win five and lose only one of their last six league games. One of those wins was a 3-0 home win against Fulham last month.

On the other hand, Fulham go into the game on the back of their first away win of the season at Bolton yet their form overall has been patchy. From their last six league games they have taken seven points – won 2, lost 3 and drawn 1.Those defeats both came at home to teams they expected to beat, Hull and Blackburn, and were sandwiched in between a 4-0 defeat at home to United in the FA Cup.
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