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Manchester United lead Fulham 3-0 with barely 20 minutes played

FBL-ENG-PR-FULHAM-MAN UTD

Manchester United’s Ecuadorian midfielder Antonio Valencia celebrates scoring the opening goal of the English Premier League football match between Fulham and Manchester United at Craven Cottage in London on November 2, 2013. AFP PHOTO/IAN KINGTON RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or live services. Online in-match use limited to 45 images, no video emulation. No use in betting, games or single club/league/player publications (Photo credit should read IAN KINGTON/AFP/Getty Images)

AFP/Getty Images

Fulham looked positively woeful against Southampton last weekend, and defensive errors led to them getting dumped out of the Capital One Cup by Championship side Leicester City midweek. Now, it seems they might be in for an absolute thumping by Manchester United.

Less than ten minutes had passed before the visitors had their first goal. Robin van Persie rolled the ball over to Wayne Rooney, who sprung the offside trap before taking his time, waiting for his teammates to arrive. He chose to slide the ball over to Antonio Valencia, who simply needed to tap it past Maarten Stekelenburg. The entire move happened in slow motion.

The next goal came in the 20th minute. Adnan Januzaj won the ball in midfield, running toward the center before setting up van Persie. It seemed the forward may have been offside when the ball ended up in the net, but United were on the board with two goals to their name.

It didn’t stay that way for long, however. Less than two minutes later, it was Rooney’s turn to tap the ball into the back of the net. This time the goal came up from the back down the right hand side, meeting van Persie once again. The Dutchman had plenty of time and acres of space to ensure his pass to Rooney was perfect, leaving his partner with little to do but get his foot on the end of the ball.

Manchester United may have had a few rough spells this season, but it seems exceedingly unlikely that Fulham, who look clueless, will find a way out of this mess.