Wolverhampton Wanderers handed Manchester United a third straight defeat on Boxing Day, easing to a 2-0 win at Molineux.
Matheus Cunha leapt through thick clouds of fog, breaking the deadlock inside the opening hour straight from a corner before setting up Hwang Hee-chan for a closing second. The game had been scoreless – and goalless – for the first 47 minutes, before a red card for Bruno Fernandes irrevocably changed the contest.
A thoroughly deserved three points for Vitor Pereira's new side sees them climb to a relative safety of 17th, while United are just three places higher in 14th.
How the game played out
The only incident of any note from the first half that was mercifully obscured by the great plumes of fog was a yellow card for Bruno Fernandes. Manchester United's scrappy captain brought down Matheus Cunha at the end of a great run. This seemingly harmless foul would bring together the two protagonists of the game, who will remember Thursday's game for completely different reasons.
Fernandes was immediately shown his second yellow card of the match – and then his third red of the season – for a needless tackle on Nelson Semedo less than two minutes after the restart.
As a formidable United were reduced to ten men, what had been a close and tight contest turned into attack against defense as Wolves poured into the yawning voids created by Fernandes' sacking.
However, it took a moment of decided magic from Molineux's resident wizard to finally put the hosts to rest up front. For the second time in seven days, united They conceded straight from a corner – taking their disastrous dead-ball reputation to new depths – as Cunha fired a threatening shot through the fog and into Andre Onana's net just before the hour mark.
Wolves piled on the possession, repeatedly finding the spare man, but could not translate their numerical advantage on the scoreboard. As the clock ticked down to the final ten minutes – before eight more were added by the fourth official – and it was only 1-0, United began to wear on the nerves of Wolves who had been torn apart by a season of strife.
Hwang broke the deadlock late with a decisive second deep in stoppage time. Cunha – who else? – charged into an empty United half and selflessly scored for his team-mate.
Check out the player ratings for Wolves vs Man Utd here.
In an interview with Athletics in 2022, Fernandes warned: “I play against Wolves and there are a lot of Portuguese players (in their squad) but if I have to kick them, I will kick them. If I have to complain to them, I will do it.” Fernandes can be accused of many things, but at least he is a man of his word.
Following one straight red card during a modest defeat to Tottenham Hotspur in September – which was eventually overturned – and a double booking against Porto four days later, Fernandes completed a hat-trick of dismissals by hitting Cunha and Semedo.
The United captain became the first Manchester United player to be sent off three times in the same season in all competitions since Nemanja Vidic in 2008/09. While the legendary centre-back can blame an in-form Fernando Torres for his struggles, Fernandes' disdain has often been to blame.
Ahead of the trip to Molineux, Ruben Amorim warned that his Portuguese compatriot Vitor Pereira is “a very good coach who will understand us”. This proved to be very much the case the new Wolves boss neutralized the visitors by matching United's 3-4-2-1 formation.
In a battle of three backs, the game effectively broke down into a battle of individual duels. Each attacking trio faced a centre-back trio, the double midfield duo faced each other in the central circle, while it was full-back against full-back.
Amorim, to his credit, tried to change the balance of a largely cagey contest by letting Noussair Mazraoui move inside from right-back, adding an extra body to the four-way midfield scrap. While this greased the wheels of United's rise, it did not lead to a significant sight of goal.
Instead, Fernandes' dismissal in the 47th minute proved more decisive. Wolves had the ball in the United net within two minutes of the player's red card, overloading the right wing as Nelson Semedo headed home an offside Jorgen Strand Larsen.
The hosts had to wait until the 99th minute before finally regaining their numerical lead, but the red card gave them a sense of control over proceedings that hadn't even existed in the first half.
Just 20 minutes before the Boxing Day special evening offer started, Telegraph produced a report claiming Arsenal were interested in a move for Wolves' talismanic striker Matheus Cunha.
The Gunners were not enticed by another impressive display from the Brazilian on Thursday, or even his overall campaign, but are eyeing Cunha as an emergency replacement for injured Bukayo Saka after three years of continuous encouraging production. Many in the Premier League and beyond are likely to share Arsenal's high opinion of the 25-year-old.
A troublesome threat wherever he takes the ball, Cunha looks clearly out of place in a team that is giving up against the drop. Beyond his superb set piece which eventually broke the deadlock, Cunha seemed to draw a collective gasp of awe from the Molineux crowd every time he touched the ball, committed a foul or flashed a wry smile. Those Wolves fans may not get much chance to drool over the Brazilian star while he's still wrapped in gold.