It will be a frustrating trip back to London for Silva, whose side started brightly and came so close to securing a point.
Given the home side had lost to three of their main Premier League rivals in pre-season, still didn't have an orthodox left-back and started without a central striker, United's pre-match optimism didn't appear to be based on the firmest of foundations.
Fulham duly exposed United's weaknesses and for the first quarter of the game carried by far the greater threat.
Tete might have gone closest for the visitors but their most potent attacking weapon was Adama Traore.
The former Middlesbrough and Wolves winger can be a frustrating figure. He is one of the fastest, most direct players in the game and because of that, he is a major danger. But too often, the threat he poses peters out into very little.
It was the same here. Traore flew into the box, got himself into the perfect position to cut the ball back to a team-mate, and allowed the pass to be intercepted by United debutant Noussair Mazraoui.
He was off target with a decent chance not long afterwards and when he attacked the home goal for a third time, Lisandro Martinez stepped in to simply ease him away from the ball.
This all meant Fulham failed to make the most of their best spell and once Pereira contrived to blow one chance and Martinez was then allowed to snuff out the danger from what was initially a four-on-two counter, they were always at risk of a nasty late surprise.
