Barclays Premier League
Venue: Old Trafford Date: Sunday, 14 March 2010 Kick-off: 1330 GMT
Coverage: Full commentary BBC London 94.9 fm, DAB, DSAT & Online, BBC Sport website, BBC Radio 5 Live, live on Sky Sports 1 & highlights on Match of the Day 2
TEAM NEWS
**Manchester United midfielder Michael Carrick returns to the squad for Sunday’s game with Fulham, having been banned for Wednesday’s win over Milan.**He looks set to replace Paul Scholes, who has played twice in five days.
Fulham’s Clint Dempsey is poised to make his first league appearance for two months after returning from a knee injury against Juventus on Thursday.
Nicky Shorey and Stefano Okaka were cup-tied for that game, while Danny Murphy has a slight groin problem.
Man Utd
Injured: Anderson & Hargreaves (both knee), Brown (metatarsal), De Laet (leg), Giggs (broken arm), O’Shea (thigh), Owen (hamstring)
Fulham
Doubtful: Dikgacoi (ankle)
Injured: A Johnson & Pantsil (both knee)
MATCH PREVIEW
Fulham arrive at Old Trafford hoping to secure their first ever league double over Manchester United, following their impressive 3-0 win at Craven Cottage last December. The result remains the champions’ heaviest defeat of the season to date.
“Fulham has been a remarkable story. Roy has brought his experience and authority to the club. He has formed a team that no-one likes to play against”
Sir Alex Ferguson, Manchester United manager
Manchester United might be the Premier League’s form team going into the weekend, but Fulham have lost only one of their last six league games and Roy Hodgson and Mark Schwarzer were named manager and player of the month respectively for February.
Schwarzer might just have to be at his very best at Old Trafford to stop a rampant United side at present. Wayne Rooney and co have scored 23 goals in their last six home leagues games, with the in-form England striker helping himself to 10 of those.
At the other end United are proving just as emphatic. It’s now 609 minutes of league football (10 hours and nine minutes) since they last conceded at home, when Gabriel Agbonlahor scored for Aston Villa in a 1-0 win on 12 December.
However, one man who thrives on matches against United is Fulham captain Danny Murphy. He fired his fifth career goal against them last December to set the west London side on their way to that 3-0 win.
He previously scored three match winning goals in four seasons at Old Trafford as a Liverpool player.
MATCH FACTS
Head-to-head
• Manchester United have won each of their last five home games against Fulham.
• Fulham’s only victory at Old Trafford in their last 14 attempts (47 years) was a 3-1 win in October 2003.
• In the last two Premier League games between the two clubs, Fulham have scored five goals and kept two clean sheets.
• Goals are usually a prerequisite in this fixture: 57 scored in 17 Premier League matches - an average of over three goals per game.
606: DEBATE
Can Fulham continue to stifle United
Man Utd
• Could keep a third consecutive league clean sheet for the first time this season. However, their opening day 1-0 win over Birmingham preceded back-to-back clean sheets at the end of the 2008/09 campaign.
• United have only the fourth best record against sides within the top half of the table, behind Chelsea, Aston Villa and Arsenal.
• 63 points from 29 league games is United’s lowest points total at this stage of the season in four years.
Fulham
• Victory would see Fulham become only the fourth club in Premier League history to win three successive games against Manchester United; a feat previously achieved by Liverpool (twice), Arsenal and West Ham.
• Fulham have not scored in 365 minutes of away league football since Clint Dempsey netted five minutes from time in their 3-2 defeat at Stoke during January.
• Roy Hodgson’s side are without an away Premier League win since their opening day victory at Portsmouth.
LEADING GOALSCORERS
Man Utd
Rooney: 30 goals (23 league); Berbatov: 9 goals (9 league)
Fulham
Zamora: 15 goals (8 league); Duff: 8 goals (6 league)
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Mike Jones
Assistant referees: John Flynn & Mick McDonough
Fourth official: Mike Dean
LAST LEAGUE MATCH LINE-UPS
**Man Utd **(W1-0 v Wolves, a): Van der Sar, Brown (Neville 46), Vidic, Ferdinand, Evra, Valencia, Gibson (Diouf 62), Scholes, Carrick, Nani (Park 73), Berbatov. Subs Not Used: Foster, Rafael Da Silva, Fletcher, Obertan.
**Fulham **(D0-0 v Sunderland, a): Schwarzer, Hangeland, Baird, Hughes, Shorey, Etuhu, Duff, Murphy (Greening 58), Gera, Davies, Zamora (Elm 84). Subs not used Zuberbuhler, Okaka, Riise, Smalling, Kelly.
MOST RECENT MEETING
Fulham 3-0 Man Utd (19 December 2009)
Fulham scorers: Murphy 22, Zamora 46, Duff 75