ENGLISH FA CUP BETTING PREVIEW - MANCHESTER UNITED VS FULHAM

English FA CUP

2025-03-02 - Manchester United vs Fulham

A Sports Betting Preview by Auls

Manchester United v Fulham
Football: English FA Cup Fifth Round
Sunday 2nd March 2025 - Kick Off 4:30pm
This game is live on TV

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Manchester United

Plenty of character was on display in Manchester United's win over Ipswich Town on Wednesday and that will be encouraging for Ruben Amorim. It was not a perfect night with some suggesting Alejandro Garnacho's decision to walk immediately off the pitch after being substituted in the first half was not approved, but Amorim seemed happy enough and the 3-2 win will have given his squad a boost in confidence.

The defending FA Cup holders are now going to turn the attention to the Cup competitions over the next few days and Manchester United might need to return to European Football to boost the financial power. They can only really expect to do that by winning either the FA Cup or Europa League and Manchester United take aim at eliminating a third Premier League club in this competition following wins over Arsenal and Leicester City.

Manchester United have lost 2 of their last 8 games in all competitions and they have fought back for positive results over the last eight days against Everton and Ipswich Town. Ruben Amorim has suggested his players have found it tough to perform at Old Trafford, but the victory on Wednesday means Manchester United have won 3 of their last 4 fixtures played here.

Patrick Dorgu is beginning a three game suspension after his first half sending off during the week. A number of players are out with injury and only a couple can be hoping to return before the March international break.

Fulham

Strong form has pushed Fulham firmly into the battle to finish with a European spot secured for the 2025/26 season and Marco Silva has always taken the domestic Cup competitions seriously. A couple of years ago, the FA Cup run ended controversially at Old Trafford in the Quarter Final and so Fulham will be keen to earn revenge and move closer to a first Semi Final in this competition since 2002.

They reached the League Cup Semi Final last year and Fulham would have been disappointed with their relatively early exit in that competition earlier in this campaign. The side have beaten Watford and Wigan Athletic in the previous two Rounds of the FA Cup, but Fulham have had recent issues in beating Premier League opponents in this Cup.

Fulham scored early in their 1-2 win at Wolves on Tuesday and they have won 4 of their last 5 games in all competitions. Since a very unfortunate 3-2 loss at West Ham United in January, Fulham have won 4 away games in a row and have scored at least twice in each of those victories.

Emile Smith Rowe is hoping to be passed fit for selection, while Sasa Lukic is going to be serving a Premier League suspension, but should be available here.

Head to Head

Manchester United have scored late goals in both Premier League fixtures against Fulham and both have ended in the same 1-0 scoreline.

The home team have won 3 of their last 4 against Fulham at Old Trafford, but the exception was a 1-2 defeat thirteen months ago.

Prediction

These two teams met at the end of January and it was anything other than a classic.

With a place in the FA Cup Quarter Final on the line, it could be another tense meeting between Manchester United and Fulham, even if both teams have shown some positive form of late.

Marco Silva will select a strong team having placed significant stock in the domestic Cup competitions and his Fulham team have won 4 away games in a row ahead of this fixture. Fulham have been scoring plenty of goals in those away victories and they will not be intimidated about playing at Old Trafford, even if they have not had much success against Manchester United this season.

The opening Premier League fixture of the season featured these two at Old Trafford and it was a game with chances, but the fixture at Craven Cottage was lacking serious entertainment.

The feeling is that we are going to see a tight, competitive game with both teams aware of the importance of the tie.

Manchester United continue to make individual mistakes at the back, which are proving costly, but they have been a little better going forward. Losing Patrick Dorgu for the next three English fixtures is a blow considering the balance he was providing and that may impact their attacking performances, but set pieces will remain important and that is a key avenue to goal.

Fulham will head to the North West full of confidence and this is a team that is better than the sum of its parts and Marco Silva has proven to be a very good manager.

This makes them dangerous, but it may be a tie that is closely fought out until the end and backing this to be the third fixture between the clubs that ends with fewer than three goals looks to be the play at odds against.

The Pick :

Manchester United 1-0 Fulham

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

I'll back Under 2.5 Goals at 2.00 with BetFred