Goal! Man United 0-1 Fulham (Eriksen 14)
Casemiro intercepts Cairney on halfway, and in an instant, Martial charges forward, feeds Fernandes down the inside left, and the Portuguese squares across the six-yard box for Eriksen to tap in. Casemiro began with the kind of unobtrusive intervention for which he was hired.

Everything was going swimmingly. Manchester United’s toothless defeat to Aston Villa last weekend ended a nine-game unbeaten streak that included seven wins, six clean sheets, and one remarkable period of totaalvoetbal with Harry Maguire up front.

Meek defeat at Villa Park a week ago may have revealed a clueless team, but the truth is that Erik ten Hag’s tenure has been, for the most part, quietly impressive.

Context is everything, and United’s current fifth-place finish looks far better when you consider the club’s continued reliance on unremarkable talent and ageing egotists (and that’s just in the boardroom!).