The English Premier League season returns on Friday when Manchester United host Fulham at Old Trafford.
- WHO: Manchester United vs Fulham
- That: English Premier League opening match
- Where: Old Trafford, Manchester, United Kingdom
- When: 20:00 local time (19:00 GMT) on Friday, August 15
- How to follow: Al Jazeera Sport will have the full preview and text commentary of the game.
Manchester United kick off the new Premier League season with a visit to Fulham on Friday, but there are as many questions surrounding the club as there were when the last campaign ended.
Those areas of doubt were added to on Thursday when United manager Erik ten Hag revealed his side are “not ready, but the league is starting”.
The Dutchman, who saw his side lose 3-0 to Liverpool in their final pre-season game, added: “We can't hide from it. We have to face it.”
The fact that it was visitors Fulham who produced one of the biggest upsets of the Red Devils last season will not be lost on ten Hag.
The west London club won 2-1 at Old Trafford in February after a disappointing home side performance that saw Fulham take the lead through Calvin Bassey. Harry Maguire levelled the scores with a minute left in normal time, giving United hope of an unlikely and undeserved victory, but it was the visitors who took all three points after Alex Iwobi decided the result 60 seconds after Maguire's goal.
That result marked the start of a 17-game losing streak to end the season during which United recorded just six wins to go along with five losses.
One of those wins was the FA Cup final victory in May against rivals Manchester City, a game that could well have saved ten Hag’s job. The Dutchman would have to wait until early July to learn that the season review, conducted by the new owners of the club’s football operations INEOS, had resulted in a contract extension. The length leaves questions over the extent to which the Jim Ratcliffe-owned group believes in ten Hag and will focus on early-season results.
Fulham won just two of their last nine Premier League games at the end of last season (suffering four defeats in that run) but finished a more than respectable 13th.
It was their away record that saw them fall from tenth place the previous year. That year, only five teams claimed Fulham's seven league wins on the road, and only three teams conceded fewer than Fulham's 24 on their travels. But last year, life away from home was much tougher.
Marco Silva's side have only managed four away wins, one of them at Old Trafford, and only five teams have conceded more goals than the 37 they have conceded at rival stadiums.
The loss of key defenders Tosin Adarabioyo to Chelsea and Tim Ream to Major League Soccer club Charlotte FC will not help Silva, but it could be the departure of Joao Palhinha to Bayern Munich that leaves the biggest hole in the London side.
For United, the signing of defenders Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui from Bayern Munich this week will ease defensive concerns and Joshua Zirkzee is also expected to be fit after the Dutch striker joined from Bologna.
The biggest boost Ten Hag could perhaps have hoped for was the contract extension his captain Bruno Fernandes signed with the club. The Portuguese midfielder has been United's standout performer through many difficult times in recent years and no player has captured the Red Devils' style better than the 29-year-old, whose new three-year deal was announced on Wednesday.
Manchester United team news
Leny Yoro will be out for three months due to a foot injury sustained in pre-season against Arsenal. The 18-year-old defender was signed this summer from Lille.
United will also be without striker Rasmus Hojlund and defender Luke Shaw for the trip to Fulham.
Harry Maguire will undergo a late fitness test after the centre-back suffered a knock in the Community Shield, meaning new signings Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui could be handed debuts.
Fulham team news
Fulham come into the season with a squad in top form to take to Old Trafford.
Record new signing Emile Smith Rowe, who joined from Arsenal, is expected to make his competitive debut for the Cottagers.
Face to face
This will be the 89th meeting between the two clubs. The first meeting was in London in March 1908 for the FA Cup; like the last meeting, the result was a 2-1 victory for Fulham.
United have won 56 of those meetings to Fulham's 14. Prior to last season's win, Fulham had not beaten United since a 3-0 victory at Craven Cottage in March 2009. United then went on a run of 15 wins in 18 games.
