(Football news) Manchester United secured a 2-1 victory over Fulham at Craven Cottage in the Premier League thanks to Alejandro Garnacho scoring in the third minute of injury time. An early goal by Christian Eriksen (14th minute) was cancelled out by former Manchester United player Daniel James (61st minute) and the Cottagers almost held their opponents to a draw, only for Garnacho to score a sublime goal in the 93rd minute. The 18 year old capitalised on a through ball by Christian Eriksen to score his first Premier League goal with just seconds remaining on the clock.

Cristiano Ronaldo was absent from the squad due to an apparent illness while David de Gea made some excellent saves. The result means that the Red Devils will go into a six week domestic break for the World Cup in fifth place, three points behind Tottenham and four points behind Newcastle United but have played a game less. In team news, Antony and Ronaldo missed out while Martial, Elanga and Bruno Fernandes returned to the starting lineup. As for Fulham, Aleksandar Mitrovic remained unavailable while Kenny Tete and Harrison Reed also didn’t feature. 

Speaking after the match, Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag said “Well done! It's a massive win and Alejandro Garnacho had a big impact. He finalised and then the spotlight is always on that and that is justified because it was a great finish. It's what we expect from subs coming on but you have to do it and I'm really happy with his progress. We have an extra player in the squad. I'm happy for the academy that they have brought out a player – and the coaches, who have done good work. 

“So, great, but also, I want to emphasise the way we scored that goal, all the way from the back to the front, showed composure. I think it was a massive, brilliant assist from Christian Eriksen. It would be weird if I said I knew [what would happen] before [sending Garnacho on]. It's a little bit of the feeling that you have. You need an eye for it. Sometimes I'm wrong as well, but in this case I saw his improvement in the last months and you could see his potential. We knew it was the right point to bring him in, but you can't know that he will have such an impact before. 

"This shows what real talents can do. But there is still, for him, a long way to go. He has to keep his feet on the ground. He has to do much more investment because he will be recognizable for everyone, so it's much more important to confirm it. Big players know that. Young players don't. Now, a four-week break is already a danger for him, because he now has momentum. Let's see how he comes back. We have to manage that with him but when his energy is good, I'm certain he will have an impact."

Fulham manager Marco Silva said “Of course, it's really tough to take. Twice in seven days for us with a late goal and we lost the chance to have more points in the table. With the way we have been playing, it's really tough, but this one is different because I think we were the best team on the pitch. Our second half was even better than the first one. We created chances, we equalised the game and unfortunately we conceded a goal when we wanted to score a second. The way they scored their second goal was really tough to take. It's the Premier League. You switch off, and they punish you. The boys don't deserve it, our fans as well. The crowd was always there, helping us. It's cruel. But we have to learn from these moments."

Also read: Netherlands announce their 2022 World Cup squad with a few surprises