Fulham outclassed by Manchester United

9:25am Monday 3rd March 2008

Fulham 3 Manchester United 0

Fulham fell further behind in the fight to avoid relegation as they were outclassed by Manchester United in a 3-0 defeat at Craven Cottage on Saturday.

United left Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo on the bench, with ex-Fulham striker Louis Saha partnering Carlos Tevez up front; and the first chance of the game fell to Saha who shot wide after being sent clear by Paul Scholes.

Fulham created a chance with their first attack of the first half, with Danny Murphy's 30-yard shot denied by Edwin van der Sar's fingertips.

However, United were dominating the game and took the lead through an Owen Hargreaves freekick in the 15th minute, much to the disgust of the Fulham fans, who felt that the foul on Tevez by Brede Hangeland was dubious.

United pushed on after the goal, Nani shot wide from 20 yards, and Antti Niemi pulled off a world-class save to deny Paul Scholes' header from increasing United's lead.

Despite the domination from United, Fulham did come close to getting an equaliser through Danny Murphy.

After Eddie Johnson was brought down by Wes Brown just outside United's area, Jimmy Bullard's free-kick found Murphy whose header was saved by van der Sar at point blank range.

Nevertheless, the inevitable did happen and United made it 2-0 just before half-time when Park Ji-Sung headed Scholes' cross past Niemi.

Roy Hodgson rallied the troops at half time and Fulham had the ball in the net in the 49th minute but Johnson's strike was ruled out as Brian McBride was offside in the build-up.

Fulham continued to pile on the pressure with a number of long shots, the best of which came from Moritz Volz who forced van der Sar into a fine save.

Despite Fulham's pressure, United extended their lead when Simon Davies was unable to stop himself putting John O'Shea's cross past Niemi.

Despite Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo being brought on, United were not able to increase their lead and the match finished 3-0, leaving United one point behind Arsenal at the top of the table, and Fulham 6 points adrift of Bolton in 17th.

Fulham: Niemi 7, Stalteri 6, Hughes 6, Hangeland 6, Konchesky 5, VOLZ 7 (Kamara 90, 6), Bullard 6, Murphy 6 (Smertin 64, 6), Johnson 5 (Nevland 90, 6), Davies 5, McBride 5Manchester United: van der Sar 7, O'Shea 6, Ferdinand 7, Brown 6, Evra 8, Park 7, Scholes 8, Hargreaves 7, NANI 8 (Anderson 75 6), Tevez 6 (Ronaldo 69, 7), Saha 6 (Rooney 69, 6)Man of the match: Nani (Manchester United)