Man United – Fulham. Predicted line-ups and latest news, – August 16, 2024

The English Premier League 2024/2025 season will kick off on 16 August. Manchester United and Fulham will open the season at Old Trafford.

Despite the fact that the championship has yet to start, Erik ten Hag's men have already opened the official season with a Super Cup match, where they lost to Manchester City in a penalty shoot-out. They have played five friendlies, of which the Mancunians won two: against Rangers (2-0) and Real Betis (3-2).

Marco Silva for his wards decided to conduct a reduced pre-season preparation and organised only three control matches, of which he also won two: with Hoffenheim (2:0) and Benfica (1:0).

The clubs' transfer market policy in the summer window also differs. Fulham strengthened three players: Emile Smith-Rowe from Arsenal, Jorge Cuenca from Villarreal and Ryan Sessenion from Tottenham. But at the same time, the Gunners sold their leader Joao Palinho to Bayern for 50 million euros.

Manchester United's transfer policy was much more active. From Bayern alone, the Mancunians signed Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui. They have also strengthened with Bologna forward Joshua Zirkzee and Lille defender Leny Yoro.

For their part, Old Trafford have said goodbye to Mason Greenwood, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Donny van de Beek, Anthony Martial and Raphael Varane.

However, Yoro won't be able to be an assist in Erik ten Hag's first game of the new season, as he has injured his foot and will be recovering until December. So will Tyrell Malacia, Rasmus Højlund, Victor Lindelöf and Luke Shaw. They, too, are injured and won't play against Fulham.

If we talk about Fulham, then the infirmary of the London team is empty, so Marco Silva will be able to count on all the players.

Moving on to predicted line-ups, we note that the biggest question for ten Hag remains in defence, so we can expect that de Ligt and Mazraoui will be immediately thrown into action, as well as Zirkzee, who will be called upon to replace Højlund.

After the sudden departure of Aleksandar Mitrovic, Fulham's top scorer last season was young Brazilian striker Rodrigo Muniz, who scored nine league goals.

The former Flamengo striker will be supported by ex-United midfielder Andreas Pereira, while recent signing Emile Smith-Rowe, who scored his only Premier League goal at Old Trafford, is also expected to play.

Another new acquisition, Jorge Cuenca, may need time to acclimatise, so Issa Diop and Kelvin Bassi could pair up in the centre of Marco Silva's defence.

Putting all the factors together, the Dailysports team have put together predicted line-ups for the Manchester United vs Fulham match.

Manchester United predicted line-up

Onana - Dalot, De Ligt, Martinez, Mazraoui - Casemiro, Mainoo - Amad, Fernandes, Rashford - Zirksee

Fulham predicted line-up

Leno - Castagne, Diop, Bassey, Robinson - Lukic, Reed - Iwobi, Pereira, Smith-Rowe - Muniz

The match between Manchester United and Fulham will take place on 16 August. The starting whistle at Old Trafford will sound at 21:00 CET. Earlier our experts prepared a forecast for this match.