Wolves 2-0 Manchester United: Cunha stars as Wolves outplay United

Wolves’ Christmas celebrations continued at Molineux thanks to a 2-0 win over 10-player Manchester United.

A first half where chances were absent was quickly brought to life in the second, with Bruno Fernandes dismissed after a second yellow card. Wolves pounced; they quickly had the ball in the net through an ultimately disallowed Jørgen Larsen header, but Matheus Cunha would put them in front for real not long after with a sublime Olimpico goal straight from a corner kick.

United tried to take charge after that, but their efforts at levelling affairs were in vain; with what was all but the last kick of the game, Hwang Hee Chan notched his first goal of the season to send the visitors plummeting to 14^th in the table – while Wolves leapt out of the relegation zone.

As it happened

It feels a long time ago that Manchester United survived seven consecutive games without defeat between the tenures of Erik ten Hag and Ruben Amorim. Now, a month and seven more games later, they’ve won only twice. At Molineux, they were back to their old tricks – and Wolves smelt blood.

Despite that, the first half was one devoid of anything resembling a clear-cut chance. Each side managed two shots on target, none of which particularly threatening; United’s best effort came courtesy of a curler from Diogo Dalot, Wolves’ a header into the turf from Larsen. Both were saved quite expertly by José Sá and André Onana respectively.

That’s not to say there were no moments of any quality; United were able to conjure up one or two slick moves (quite literally one or two, mind) and Cunha made mincemeat of his opposite numbers on multiple occasions, once bringing the ball down with a piece of skill reminiscent of a certain Zinedine Zidane, and then dribbling against no fewer than six defenders, that run only cut short by a petulant Fernandes foul.

But those were quite isolated incidents. United looked like a side still searching for an identity, their back three passing the ball to one another with little by way of an aim in mind. Wolves, for their part, weren’t made to work too hard, defending stoutly throughout. Something would have to change in the second half for either side to take control of the game – and in the 47^th minute, that something happened.

It was Fernandes again, involved in much the same way as the first half and once more for all the wrong reasons. Having already been booked for his foul on Cunha, he doubled up, treading on Nelson Semedo’s toes and seeing the colour of his card change from yellow to red. These were his third marching orders of a season which won’t live fondly in either his or his supporters’ memories.

Moments later, the hosts had the ball in the back of the net, their celebrations albeit hastily muted; Semedo sent a tremendous cross into the area for Larson to head home, but he had drifted just offside.

This was what Wolves needed, though. They were on top, now with impetus to strike. When their moment came in the 58^th minute, there were no prizes for guessing the man to inflict the blow.

Cunha stood over a corner on Wolves’ left-hand side. He’d tested Onana with a wicked inswinger in the first half and would look to do the same this time. His delivery was deep, but almost deftly taken, his right leg drifting up as the ball flew towards the far post. It flew, flew some more, and rippled the side netting when it landed beyond the goal line.

United were stunned; exactly a week after Heung Min Son scored an Olimpico of his own, the Manchester United goalkeeper – this time Onana – was berating the referee once more, insisting he’d been impeded, those claims ultimately shouted in vain. But really, they should have suspended their surprise; they’ve now conceded from five set pieces in their last six games.

If a goal was to come in this game, the odds were it would be from such a situation. United’s record is poor, but Wolves have conceded an astonishing 16 Premier League goals from dead balls this season. The question before the goal was who was going to concede; the answer was draped in gold.

Amorim responded by rolling the dice; Casemiro and Antony entered the fray, and both tried to reduce the deficit, the former denied by Sá and the latter firing wide. They were half-chances, though. United hadn’t given up, but they were still utterly blunt up top.

At the back, they were riding little more than luck; Larsen scored once more in the 77^th minute and was again denied not by a man in a Manchester United shirt, but one with a flag in his hand.

The visitors kept plugging, but every attack was built more on hope than strategy. That said, they penned Wolves into their own box throughout the last 20 minutes. The hosts were hardly overworked in the first half, but even a second of misdirected concentration would have cost them in the second. That never happened, though; when Harry Maguire’s looped header landed in the arms of Sá in the 96^th minute, United’s last gasps had come and gone.

But Wolves were still breathing. Right at the end, 99 minutes in, the dagger was thrust in the heart of Manchester United. It was a simple counter; one ball forward, two attackers through on goal. Cunha carried the ball and squared it to Hwang Hee Chan, who buried both the shot and the visitors in the process. A perfect Black Country boxing day; a woeful Mancunian Christmas hangover.

Amorim’s United looks awash with players ill-suited to their new roles, a clear-out and a successful transfer window as necessary as it has been for much of the last decade. They’re stranded in the bottom half of the table, now 14^th and behind even West Ham United. All the talk in their city is of their rival club in crisis; but United have hardly painted the town red.

Under Vítor Pereira, Wolves look reborn. They’re only two games into his time in charge, but they’re head and shoulders above where they were only weeks ago. This win, just their second on their turf this season, propels them out of the drop zone and into the warm grasp of potential safety.

In a clash of the Portuguese bosses, there could only be one victor: Vítor.

The lineups

WOL: Sá; Toti, Bueno, Doherty; Aït Nouri, Gomes, André, Semedo; Cunha, Guedes; Larsen

MUN: Onana; Martínez, Maguire, Yoro; Dalot, Mainoo, Ugarte, Mazraoui; Fernandes, Diallo; Højlund

_{FEATURED IMAGE: Chris Hepburn}