"Man Utd 1-0 Fulham: Zirkzee's Late Strike Decides Premier League Opener - Player Ratings Inside"

Manchester United left it late to beat Fulham on the opening day of the 2024/25 Premier League season.

New striker Joshua Zirkzee came off the bench to grab the all important goal and ensure the Red Devils' league campaign got off to a perfect start.

Fulham didn't do enough to trouble their hosts but will ultimately be disappointed to have lost a game they were so close to taking a point from.

Fulham made a good fist of the opening exchanges and went close when Kenny Tete made his way forward from right-back and looped a shot towards the top corner, only for Andre Onana to thrust up a hand to deny him a spectacular opener.

The first opening United created came when a loose pass from Bernd Leno was intercepted high up the pitch, and Casemiro thought quickly to feed in Bruno Fernandes, whose strike was denied by the knee of the Fulham goalkeeper.

That same combination came up with the Red Devils' next chance with Casemiro again feeding Fernandes with a swift pass into the penalty area, but again the United captain was thwarted by Leno from close range.

United wanted a penalty just before the break when Harry Maguire went down when challenging Emile Smith Rowe for a bouncing ball through the box, but referee Robert Jones booked the England defender for diving instead.

After the break, United sought to hit their visitors on the counter, with Marcus Rashford ghosting his way into the box and teeing up Mason Mount. Once more, Leno kept Fulham level.

Fulham were struggling to make open-play chances of their own but nearly found the net when a Rodrigo Muniz overhead kick deflected up off the shoulder of Kobbie Mainoo, with Onana scampering across his line to push the ball to safety.

The major criticism of United last season was how easy they made it for opponents to attack, and they should have been punished when Lisandro Martinez's lunge towards Muniz missed the ball and left Maguire defending a two-on-one situation. But the midfielder's pass into Alex Iwobi was terribly skewed and easily cleared.

Martinez's night of ups and downs swung back in his favour when he made a vital clearance to stop a low Pereira cross being tapped in at the back post. Tete came up with a similar interception from an Alejandro Garnacho ball in the opposite area minutes later.

With under five minutes remaining, United found the winning goal. Debutant Joshua Zirkzee dropped deep and switched play to the flank, where Garnacho was again waiting to cross, and this time his ball found the Dutchman, whose deft touch steered it into the bottom corner.

One final chance went United's way when Calvin Bassey sliced a clearance and Rashford latched onto the loose ball. His pass to Garnacho wasn't the best, but the Argentine should have done better than to fire wide of a near-empty net.

But that didn't matter as United's victory was confirmed seconds later.