After seeing Chelsea, Arsenal and even Newcastle United hit opposing Barclays Premier League teams for six goals apiece, it was imperative that Manchester United get a good result against Fulham, but they could only manage a disappointing draw 2-2 at Craven Cottage.
Like they did last season in the 1-0 loss away to Burnley, United missed a penalty, which ultimately led to them missing out on the points, but hopefully the Premier League title is not decided by two points - or less - this season.
Michael Carrick was denied by Brian Jensen, but this time it was Nani who missed the penalty, which would have put United up 3-1, by young David Stockdale who did well to guess which way and keep it out of the net.
The miss allowed Fulham the confidence to get something out of the match, which they did following Brede Hangeland's last minute header.
United continued their slow start to a Barclays Premier League season - as they have not won their first two matches of the season since 2006/07 - and now they not only face a mountain to climb in terms of goal difference, but also are behind in the all-important points column.
Without their 34-goal man from last season, Wayne Rooney, following his withdrawal from the trip to west London with a stomach illness, United were always going to be up against it from a very determined Fulham side.
Rooney's replacement, Dimitar Berbatov, did quite admirably leading the line, but unfortunately for young Javier Hernandez, he did not enjoy a very fruitful afternoon after being hand his first Premier League start.
However, where Rooney was missed dearly was he would have taken the penalty, and with his good record, he would have buried the spot kick, and United would just be trailing on goal difference.
When a team like United takes the lead not only once - but twice - they need to become more ruthless and defend better to preserve it.
Thankfully, United came away from Craven Cottage with at least a point, because they could have very easily been on the losing end after Fulham missed a couple of good chances to take lead after they leveled the score early in the second-half.
Bobby Zamora, Damien Duff and Simon Davies all had chances, and Nemanja Vidic was lucky to have not conceded a penalty when he needlessly tugged on Moussa Dembélé' shirt.
Vidic and Jonny Evans struggled all game long with the physical presence of Zamora, which shows how lucky they were Newcastle were unable to attack down the flanks in their first game against Andy Carroll.
Impressive
Chelsea ran rampant again - this time embarrassing Wigan Athletic 6-0 - taking their season goal tally to 12 without conceding. Didier Drogba, even though he did not score, showed he still is one of the best players in the league as he registered a hat-trick of assists to lead the Blues.
Florent Malouda got the onslaught started in the first-half and then five second-half goals from - Nicolas Anelka (2), Salomon Kalou (2) new summer signing, Yossi Benayoun, rounded off the scoring.
Arsenal put in a contrasting performance against Liverpool and hammered Blackpool 6-0 to move to second place in the league standings.
Young Theo Walcott led Arsenal by notching his first career club hat-trick, but the complexion of the match changed following a controversial refereeing decision when Ian Evatt was not only sent off, but conceded a penalty, which Andrei Arshavin neatly converted the ensuing spot kick.
Following the sending off, Blackpool were forced to play two-thirds of the match a man short and Arsenal made them pay with five goals after that decision. Abou Diaby and Marouane Chamakh added the other two goals for the Gunners.
In back-to-back weeks to start the season, newly-promoted sides have surprised other more "establish" Premier League teams with thumping victories, and this time it was Newcastle's turn.
After putting in a valiant effort in their 3-0 loss at Old Trafford turned their performance around and put six passed Aston Villa.
Carroll, who was the Toon's best player against United, netted his first Premier League treble, Kevin Nolan added a further two and former Manchester City midfielder Joey Barton also scored in the impressive win.
Following the draw, Manchester United now face a daunting task of making of these two dropped points over the course of the next 36 games if they are to recapture the Barclays Premier League title.
Contributed by David Hammons / The United Religion
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