Manchester United suffered a shock 2-0 defeat to Premier League newcomers Hull City in their first match of the 2026-27 season. It took just 17 minutes for United to go into the break, when Semi Ajayi curled home from a corner. Nobel Mendy doubled Hull's surprise lead 38 minutes later with a powerful header. On both occasions, United were punished by free kicks taken in their own half. United tried hard in the second half but never looked like they could overturn a disastrous opening game.
Before the match, the team had received a positive boost from the unveiling of Marcus Rashford's new shirt number — he will wear the number 9 shirt this season, after returning from a loan spell at Barcelona — although he was named on the bench and came on as a second-half substitute. Even Rashford was unable to overturn a two-goal deficit and salvage Michael Carrick's first game as United's permanent manager in the league.
He struggled to impress, as did many others, in a tepid performance by the team that showed that United — the last Premier League champions in 2013 under Sir Alex Ferguson — still have a long way to go to restore their former glory and, at least on this display, do not look likely to be in contention for the title. Sergej Jakirovic’s Hull finished sixth in the second tier last season but, amid the Spygate drama that cost Southampton their play-off spot, they quickly seized the opportunity. A win at Wembley Stadium secured their promotion to the Premier League.
Critics had predicted that Hull would struggle in English football's top flight, but their first game of the season, at the KC Stadium, could hardly have gone any better. "It's a big thing, you can see what it means to everyone," Hull's Regan Slater, whose free-kick set up the second goal, told TNT Sports. "We picked up where we left off." For Carrick and United, it will be a fresh start ahead of next weekend, when they host Ipswich Town — another Premier League newcomer — at Old Trafford.
