Cunha rescues point for Manchester United after horror Lisandro Martinez’s own goal at Fulham
By Luke Oluoch, September 20, 2026Manchester United needed a late equaliser from Matheus Cunha to rescue a 1-1 draw away against Fulham FC at Craven Cottage on Sunday, September 20, 2026.
The Brazilian’s deflected shot found its way past Bernd Leno with just two minutes left on the clock, cancelling out a Lisandro Martínez own goal that had put Fulham on course for their first win of the campaign.
The stalemate leaves United 12th in the league table, while Fulham remain winless despite picking up only their second point of the season.
The first real chance of the game fell to Bruno Fernandes, who could only strike the post after Matheus Cunha cut the ball back to set up the Portuguese playmaker.
Bruno hits the post
The clash roared to life around the half-hour mark as Fulham began to threaten. King was the first culprit, failing to poke home from a close-range volley following an Alex Iwobi cross.
New signing Gonzalo García, arriving from Real Madrid, then failed to connect cleanly inside the area before Sander Berge forced goalkeeper Senne Lammens into a sharp save.
Horror Martinez own goal
The hosts’ persistence eventually paid off when Martínez inadvertently turned the ball into his own net after Lammens parried a Calvin Bassey shot.
Fulham nearly doubled their advantage shortly after, stinging the palms of Lammens following a swift counter-attack. Earlier, Bryan Mbeumo had seen a brilliant curling effort from just outside the box brilliantly tipped away by Bernd Leno.
The goalkeeper heroics continued as the German shot-stopper thwarted Cunha before Manchester United manager Michael Carrick intervened with tactical changes. Joshua Zirkzee replaced Marcus Rashford, while an impressive Kobbie Mainoo was hauled off for Mason Mount for a frantic final ten minutes.
Cunha’s goal emboldened United to take the lead in the final moment of the three added minutes, but they failed to find a match winner in a late foray at goal.
United now climbed a rank up to 12th as Alvaro Arbeloa leapfrogged Tottenham to move to second from the bottom of the standings with two points from opening four games.