Man Utd Caretaker Carrick Urges Bottling Emotional Wins To Push For Top Four

Manchester United host Fulham at Old Trafford on 1 February with a place in the Premier League top four at stake, as Michael Carrick’s side look to extend an unbeaten league run and build on statement victories over Manchester City and Arsenal, while Fulham arrive in confident form after a strong eight-match sequence.

Carrick’s current spell as caretaker manager has brought a 2-0 win against Manchester City and a 3-2 success over leaders Arsenal, results that have lifted United into fourth place, although their position could shift before kick-off, with the race for Champions League qualification tight around the upper half of the table.

Across both interim periods, starting in 2021, Carrick has collected 10 points from four Premier League games

in charge of Manchester United, with a record of three wins and one draw, yet Carrick is stressing process over league position as attention turns to Fulham’s visit this weekend.

Carrick is keen for the squad to harness the positive mood from recent results, while avoiding any suggestion that the job is done after two big wins, and emphasises discipline, routines and emotional control as the foundation for sustaining Manchester United’s current run deep into the season.

"I know from our perspective, it's just moving forward to the next game," Carrick said. "So, it's just keep getting good habits, really, and good routines and good habits. I don't think we can look too far ahead. We certainly won't be, anyway. We'll finish where we finish by getting the results. I know that's kind of obvious, but looking too far ahead can come back and bite you, really. So, we've taken this week by week and game by game. We'll certainly continue to do that. But we've got to ride it and use the emotion, you have got to use the energy and use the confidence. You've got to be humble enough to understand how we could just achieve these two big results. It doesn't just come easy, so we need to continue that and bottle it and use it again. "

Hosting the Cottagers this SundayManchester United (@ManUtd) January 29, 2026

Fulham sit seventh in the Premier League, four points behind Manchester United, after losing just one of their last eight league fixtures, a 1-0 defeat away to Leeds United, a setback that was followed by a 2-1 home victory over Brighton which underlined their current resilience.

Joachim Andersen accepts that Manchester United’s recent form makes this trip demanding, yet the defender believes Fulham’s level across the last two months shows they can compete strongly at Old Trafford if they maintain the clinical edge that has driven their rise into contention for European places.

"We've been on a really good run. We've been clinical, scoring all our chances, which is important, and we need to continue that," he told the club's media channels. "[They have had] two impressive wins that's given them a lift and some energy, but we've done well against them in the last few years. "

Manchester United vs Fulham: Key players and attacking threats

Manchester United’s attacking numbers have been heavily influenced by Bryan Mbeumo across the last two seasons, with 28 Premier League goals and eight assists during that period, a tally bettered in combined contributions only by Mohamed Salah with 55 and Erling Haaland with 49.

United’s record without Mbeumo during the Africa Cup of Nations highlights that impact; the team won one, drew three and lost one of five league games in his absence, a 20% win rate, compared with nine wins, five draws and four defeats from 18 matches, or 50% wins, when Mbeumo started.

For Fulham, Harry Wilson has been central to their attacking success, directly involved in 10 goals across the last 11 Premier League appearances, with six goals and four assists, providing a regular supply of final-third quality during the Cottagers’ best eight-game league run within a single season.

Wilson is producing a goal or assist every 141 minutes in the 2025-26 Premier League season, the strongest such rate by any Welsh player with at least 1,000 minutes since Aaron Ramsey delivered a goal involvement every 136 minutes for Arsenal in the 2018-19 campaign.

Harry Wilson, he's done it again. pic.twitter.com/QGq20NHAgOFulham Football Club (@FulhamFC) January 24, 2026

Manchester United vs Fulham: Historical record and Opta prediction

The broader head-to-head record favours Manchester United, who have lost only one of the last 20 Premier League meetings with Fulham, a 2-1 defeat at Old Trafford in February 2024, while winning 15 and drawing four across that extended sequence against the west London side.

Fulham held United to a 1-1 draw at Craven Cottage in August, and avoiding defeat again would give Fulham an unbeaten league campaign against Manchester United for the first time since 2003-04, when the Cottagers collected four points across the two fixtures with one win and one draw.

United are unbeaten in six Premier League matches, with three wins and three draws, their longest such streak since an eight-game run in January and February 2022 under Ralf Rangnick, and no other club currently in the division is on a longer ongoing unbeaten league sequence.

Carrick has overseen two Premier League wins from two matches during this current spell, and another victory would see the caretaker manager’s present run of three consecutive league wins match the longest streak achieved by Ruben Amorim during 47 games in charge, set in October 2025.

Fulham’s recent consistency is also historic for the club; the Cottagers have taken 17 points from their last eight league matches, with five wins, two draws and one defeat, the same total they managed across their first 15 fixtures of the season, and their best eight-game points haul within one Premier League campaign.

Outcome	Opta win probability
Manchester United win	51.7%
Draw	24.6%
Fulham win	23.7%

With Manchester United defending a six-match unbeaten league run, Fulham entering on their best eight-game spell in Premier League history, influential attackers Bryan Mbeumo and Harry Wilson both in form, and Opta probabilities narrowly favouring the hosts, this fixture sets up as a tight contest with significant implications for the top-four and European races.