I thought that Matheus Cunha was Manchester United’s best player in their 1-0 defeat to Arsenal on the opening weekend of the Premier League season. He had four shots in the game with three of those attempts finding the target, despite having the fewest touches of any player (35). This shows how Cunha can still affect the game even if he isn’t fully involved in every aspect of play.

Cunha had 110 shots in the Premier League last season for Wolves (3.81 per 90) with 44 of those attempts finding the target (1.52 per 90). This record returned 15 goals for the Brazilian, who could post similar numbers for United this season, going off his first Premier League performance for the Red Devils.

Cunha has positive memories of Craven Cottage from last season, he netted a brace against Fulham as Wolves ran out 4-1 winners in their biggest away win last season. Cunha had four shots in the game, scoring with both efforts that were on target.

Dorgu wins a ridiculously high number of fouls with his strength and speed down the left flank for Manchester United. He was hauled down four times in United’s opening game of the season against Arsenal, contesting 18 duels in the game and winning 11 of those.

Dorgu also made the most tackles of any player in that game (three) and was unsurprisingly the most fouled player on the pitch. Dorgu’s strong fouls won record extends to his performances for Manchester United in the Premier League last season. Dorgu won 2+ fouls in eight of his 12 appearances for Manchester United in the top-flight last season, winning 28 fouls in total across those matches (2.1 per 90).

He’ll be up against Kenny Tete, who contested nine duels in Fulham’s opening game of the season against Brighton and committed a foul. He averaged 1.77 fouls committed per 90 in the Premier League last season, which is a more than promising foul average when looking at backing Dorgu to be hauled down on at least two occasions.

If I had tipped this last season, I probably would have been sacked. But Manchester United are a far greater attacking force than they were last season and I think we will see some of that here. Manchester United’s attacking performance against Arsenal was really promising:

22 shots

7 shots on target

1.52 xG

It’s even more notable that Manchester United produced those numbers against the side with the best defensive record in the Premier League over the last few seasons. Arsenal only conceded 22 shots on two occasions last season, against Manchester City and Brighton and in both of those games they were reduced to 10 men, so United caused Arsenal serious problems.

Fulham conceded 30 goals across their 19 games at Craven Cottage last season (1.57 per game), six more than they conceded across their away fixtures last term. Keeping clean sheets was also an issue for the Cottagers; Marco Silva’s side only kept five shutouts last season, with only the three relegated sides keeping fewer clean sheets than Fulham.

Manchester United won 197 corners in the Premier League last season (5.18 per game). It was one area where United were actually pretty consistent last year and they came just short of the line required here in their opening game against Arsenal, winning three corners. However, their attacking threat would suggest that their corner count should continue to be high this season, especially with their system involving two wide players on either side of the pitch.

Manchester United won 4+ corners in two of their three games against Fulham last season, they didn’t manage to win a corner in the game at Craven Cottage, but as we’ve mentioned, United make to trip to London this time with much more attacking power that can help them win at least four corners here.

Bruno Fernandes was comfortably Manchester United’s best player last season and the additions that the Red Devils have added to their frontline makes him an even more appealing option to back for goal contributions, now that he doesn’t have to do all the heavy-lifting himself.

Fernandes registered 37 goal contributions across his 57 appearances for Manchester United in all competitions last season (19 goals, 18 assists). His role on free kicks and penalties always gives him a chance of registering a goal contribution in games for Manchester United. His creative ability should take more of a starring role this season, with the likes of Bryan Mbeumo and Cunha in the team. He created 91 chances last season (2.71 per game), which is a quality of service that is hard to match in the Premier League.

Fernandes didn’t register a goal contribution in United’s opening game of the season, but he was still instrumental in setting up their attacks, despite playing in a slightly deeper role. He created five chances and had two shots in the game, which are numbers which would that suggest Fernandes will continue to have an active role in the final third for Manchester United this season.

Sasa Lukic gets away with murder every weekend, he committed five fouls in Fulham’s opening game of the season against Brighton without receiving a caution. Lukic is never far away from a card with this foul rate, he averaged 2.52 fouls committed per 90 across his 30 Premier League appearances last season which was unsurprisingly more than any other Fulham player.

Lukic ended the 24/25 campaign with the joint-most yellow cards in the Premier League alongside Flynn Downes and Liam Delap with 12. He’ll be lining up against Matheus Cunha and Bruno Fernandes here, who won five fouls between them in their opening fixture of the season against Arsenal.

It is highly unlikely that Lukic will be able to escape a card if he produces a similar level of foul output here with two players in Cunha and Fernandes that can ensure that Lukic catches the eye of the referee and receives his first caution of the season.

Sasa Lukic picked up the joint-most cards of any player in the Premier League last season, and the battle between Dorgu and Kenny Tete stands out for cards as well here. 

Manchester United forced David Raya into making seven saves in their opening game of the season against Arsenal, they drew 4+ saves from the opposition keeper in 17 of their 38 games last season (44%).

We can expect this number to rise this season when considering the extra attacking strength that United have added to their squad over the summer. They drew four saves from Bernd Leno in the meeting between the sides on the first weekend of last season in a game that Manchester United won 1-0.

The five clean sheets that Fulham kept last season would suggest that their backline and goalkeeper are a little bit vulnerable, and seeing as the Cottagers haven’t reinforced this part of their squad (or any part of their squad) over the summer, we should see Fulham have a similarly poor defensive record this season.