Manchester United were pegged back twice during their 2-2 draw with Fulham, which ultimately saw them extend their recent curse at Craven Cottage.
Paul Scholes scored his 150th career goal for the club and a Brede Hangeland own goal saw United take the lead twice, but twice Fulham drew level through Simon Davies and the big Norwegian making up for his own goal.
Wayne Rooney did not travel with the team because of an apparent illness, so Sir Alex handed Javier 'Chicharito' Hernandez his first Premier League start as he partnered the young Mexican with Dimitar Berbatov in the United attack.
Chances
The first chance for United came when Ji-Sung Park did well to dispossess John Pantsil, the South Korean got the ball back following some good, tight passing, but his effort was deflected out for a corner.
Dimitar Berbatov had his wonderful overhead kick saved by the one hand of David Stockdale, but it was just the beginning of United's barrage on the Fulham goal.
In the 11th minute United edged in front from a typical trademark goal from Scholes as he unleashed an absolute screamer into the bottom corner of the net.
American Clint Dempsey had Fulham's first decent chance, but his tame left-footed effort was easily gobbled up by Edwin van der Sar.
Just moments later, Bobby Zamora and Simon Davies again linked up well, but the latter of the two blazed his half-volley over the United bar.
Chicharito had his first goal attempt in the Premier League following a good three-man passing movement, but the youngster hit his shot a few yards wide of the far post.
United began to stamp their authority on the match and Fulham struggled to touch the ball, and with United's next good scoring opportunity, but Berbatov was again denied by a decent save from the young Fulham goalkeeper.
Fulham showed their threat when Paul Konchesky's cross found the head of Zamora, but the one-capped England internationals' header went wide of van der Sar's left-hand post.
Fulham began to ease back into the game, and they should have been level, but van der Sar pulled off an amazing double save to deny Dickson Etuhu who was clean through on goal.
Antonio Valencia was the first player to go in to Peter Walton's book when he deemed his hard challenge on Konchesky to be unfair.
As they were doing for much of the half, and by design from Mark Hughes, Fulham attacked down the left-hand side with the Konchesky again pumping service in between the midfield and defense, but fortunate for United Dempsey's shot went well over the crossbar.
The second-half began in similar fashion to the first with United dictating the pace of the play, and the first chance fell to the feet of Scholes, but Hangeland did well to block his goal-bound shot.
Fulham earned a free-kick from a good area, but with two bites of the cherry, Zamora hammered his first effort into the wall and launched his second into stand behind the goal.
United's passing and movement became very stagnant and predictable which allowed Fulham to draw level.
Despite all of the warning signs, Damon Duff nipped the ball from Patrice Evra, and found Zamora making a good run through the United box, and he cut the ball abckFulham drew level following a good move down their right-hand side when Davies slammed home Zamora's cut-back pass.
Evra provided a great cross into the Fulham area, but Berbatov's header deflected off Scholes and into Stockdale's unexpecting arms.
Nani came on for Park, and with his first real involvement he picked out Berbatov in the box, but the Bulgarian, who was looking to pass the ball, eventual shot went into Stockdale's midriff.
Fulham began to show more confidence on the ball and their next effort came when Danny Murphy tried to continue his good goal scoring form against United, but van der Sar did well to deny the former Liverpool midfielder curling shot.
With just over a quarter of an hour to go, Sir Alex decided to make a double change with the introduction of Ryan Giggs and Michael Owen for Valencia and Hernandez, respectively.
Following a handball by Murphy out on the left channel, Nani whipped in the free-kick but unluckily it skimmed the roof of the Fulham net.
Nemanja Vidic, who was again deputizing as the United captain, twice outleaped his Hangeland, but on both occasions he headed wide of the target.
In between the efforts from the stand-in captain, Fulham could have grabbed the lead, but a long, searching ball found the right foot of Zamora, but he could not direct his shot on target and United escaped.
The pressure was mounting following a fourth corner in quick succession, and the slow reaction of Hangeland saw the ball bounce off his leg and into the back of the net to restore United's one-goal lead with just six minutes remaining.
United smelled blood and were awarded a penalty after the ball struck Duff's outstretched arm, which Nani stepped up to take, but it was well saved by Stockdale.
Nani's inability to increase the lead cost United dearly as Hangeland atoned for his own goal by heading the ball inside van der Sar's left-hand post.
Manchester United can see this as two dropped points as they were unable to hold their lead on two separate occasions.
Matchball
For the third game running, Scholes was the best player for United, but even his 150th goal for the club could not earn United all three points.
Ratings
E. van der Sar - 7; J. O'Shea - 4, N. Vidic - 5, J. Evans - 5, P. Evra - 6, A. Valencia - 5 (R. Giggs - 6), D. Fletcher - 6, P. Scholes - 7, J. S. Park - 5 (Nani - 5), D. Berbatov - 7, J. Hernandez - 6 (M. Owen - 5)
Goals
P. Scholes (11'), Own Goal (84')
Statistics
Possession: 58%
Corners: 11
Shots (On Target): 22 (8)
Fouls Conceded: 7
Fouls Suffered: 10
Bookings: A. Valencia, J. Evans
Contributed by David Hammons / The United Religion
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