Wolves 1 Manchester United 4 - Report

Many fans boycotted the opening 15 minutes of the match in protest to the club’s ongoing plight and the product on the pitch was far from improved as Wolves’ shambolic defending allowed Bruno Fernandes to fire the visitors in front.

Hope was restored when Jean-Ricner Bellegarde scored Wolves’ first goal since the end of October on the stroke of half-time.

But second half strikes from Bryan Mbeumo and Mason Mount, alongside a Fernandes penalty, saw Wolves fall to 13 defeats in 15 Premier League games and their fourth straight loss since Rob Edwards took charge.

Analysis

Edwards made two changes to the side that lost to Nottingham Forest last time out.

Ki-Jana Hoever replaced Jackson Tchatchoua, while Ladislav Krejci returned from a knee injury to come in for the suspended Joao Gomes.

Fer Lopez returned to the bench after his adductor knock, despite him being lined up for a January loan move away from the club.

Matt Doherty recently recovered from an injury of his own but was not included in the squad to face United, while Rodrigo Gomes and Marshall Munetsi are both sidelined.

Ruben Amorim made one change to his United side after their draw with West Ham as Mount came in for Joshua Zirkzee.

Former Wolves attacker Matheus Cunha made his first return to Molineux following his £62.5million move in the summer.

While some fans protested outside the stadium, plenty did come inside as the game got under way and United dominated proceedings.

Diogo Dalot and Mbeumo both had strong shots saved by Sam Johnstone, as Wolves struggled.

In the 15th minute, when those protesting fans came inside Molineux, chants against owners Fosun and club chairman Jeff Shi started in force.

And they only intensified as Wolves conceded a shambolic goal in the 25th minute.

Andre dawdled on the ball under pressure from Casemiro and played an awful back pass and despite Emmanuel Agbadou’s efforts to stop Fernandes, who did slip originally, the United captain was able to fire a shot into the back of the net, despite it coming off Johnstone.

Mbeumo then had another shot saved and Cunha looked set to fire home the rebound, but Toti Gomes made a goal-line clearance to deny him.

Wolves started to get some sort of foothold and Andre was in down the left, inside the box, but his cross was too heavy for Jorgen Strand Larsen.

They then found an equaliser - their first goal since the end of October - on the stroke of half-time.

After a couple crosses, the final one from David Moller Wolfe found the incoming Bellegarde who slid in to turn the ball into the far corner for his first goal of the season and first since February.

That took Wolves level going into half-time.

As the second half got under way United had an early opening through Cunha, but Agbadou made a smart tackle.

Cunha dramatically dropped to the floor asking for a penalty - to the delight of the home fans that booed him and treated him as the pantomime villain all evening.

But just six minutes into the second half, United regained the lead.

The visitors countered at pace and took advantage of a Wolves side that had overcommitted, as Dalot was played through and his pass beat the onrushing Johnstone to give Mbeumo a tap in.

Bellegarde was then forced off with an injury and Lopez replaced him for his first appearance since October 29.

The visitors got their third just after the hour-mark after more awful Wolves defending.

Fernandes crossed it in and as Mount made a late run, every single Wolves player let him go unchallenged and he finished from close range. Hoever was closest to him as he made the run.

Fernandes’ diving header almost added a fourth but Johnstone was equal to it.

Wolves made a triple change in the 69th minute and there were sarcastic cheers from the South Bank as both Larsen and Jhon Arias came off.

Larsen angrily looked towards the fans on a few occasions and Edwards had a word in his ear to calm him down.

United were awarded a penalty after VAR intervention, for Yerson Mosquera handling after an Amad shot, and Fernandes easily converted it to finally get their fourth.

Cunha seemed desperate to take it against his old club, but Fernandes pulled rank as the normal penalty taker.

The officials added nine minutes of time at the end of the 90 minutes, which was booed by the home fans, and Wolves hardly laid a glove on United before the full-time whistle as they lost convincingly again.

At full-time Edwards had another quick word with Larsen before walking onto the pitch, in a clear attempt to avoid the striker from reacting to any fan criticism.

Key Moments

GOAL 25 Fernandes puts United ahead after an awful Wolves mistake

GOAL 45+2 Bellegarde slides in to level for Wolves

GOAL 51 Mbeumo taps United back into the lead

GOAL 62 Mount adds a third for the visitors

GOAL 82 Fernandes converts from the penalty spot

Teams

Wolves: Johnstone, Hoever (Tchatchoua, 86), Mosquera, Agbadou, Toti (H.Bueno, 69), Wolfe, Andre, Krejci, Bellegarde (Lopez, 54), Arias (Mane, 69), Larsen (Arokodare, 69).

Subs not used: Sa, S.Bueno, Chirewa Hwang.

Manchester United: Lammens, Mazraoui (Martinez, 69), Heaven (Yoro, 69), Shaw, Amad, Casemiro (Mainoo, 78), Fernandes, Dalot (Dorgu, 84), Mbeumo, Mount (Zirkzee, 84), Cunha.

Subs not used: Bayindir, Malacia, Ugarte, Lacey.