Martinez strikes to keep United resurgence on track

Lisandro Martinez's deflected 78th-minute strike earned Manchester United a hard-fought and much-needed victory at Fulham.

Centre-back Martinez, who set up Bruno Fernandes’ stoppage-time winner in United’s 2-1 win over Rangers in the Europa League on Thursday, found the net as Ruben Amorim’s men claimed their second Premier League win in three matches.

It was another blunt attacking display from United, who managed just one shot on target, but the valuable three points moved the Red Devils above Crystal Palace and up to 12th in the Premier League table.

United needed a crucial late intervention from Toby Collyer to seal the victory as he denied Joachim Anderson with a superb goal-line clearance.

Fulham were willing to be patient in their press early on but showed their threat when countering with pace.

In the sixth minute, an interception allowed Alex Iwobi to surge into space and let fly with a drilled left-footed strike from the edge of the area but Andre Onana showed quick reflexes to get down and palm the ball away from danger.

Antonee Robinson was deployed higher than usual to exploit large amounts of space left unoccupied behind United wing-back Diogo Dalot.

Robinson's deliveries did not quite meet his usual standard and his cross to Raul Jimenez in the 39th minute was not accurate enough for the Mexican forward to get a shot on target, forcing him to take a heavy touch and shoot wide.

United forward Rasmus Hojlund endured another ineffective match and was replaced by Joshua Zirkzee after 58 minutes, with Amorim’s side appearing to require more inspiration from skipper Fernandes to find a breakthrough.

The Portugal international’s free-kick after the break was aimed under the wall and wrong-footed Fulham keeper Bernd Leno