• Man Utd played almost the entire second half with ten men
  • Matheus Cunha once again stole the show for Wolves
  • Ruben Amorim's side are down in 14th place

Wolverhampton Wanderers consigned Manchester United to a third consecutive defeat on Boxing Day, easing to a 2-0 victory at Molineux.

Matheus Cunha danced between the thick clouds of fog, breaking the deadlock inside the opening hour directly from a corner before teeing up Hwang Hee-chan for a match-sealing second. The game had been goalless - and gutless - for the first 47 minutes before a red card for Bruno Fernandes irrevocably changed the contest.

Three entirely deserved points for Vitor Pereira's new side sees them climb into the relative safety of 17th place while United are only three positions higher in 14th.

How the game unfolded

The only incident of any note from a first half that was mercifully obscured by large plumes of fog was a yellow card for Bruno Fernandes. Manchester United's mercurial skipper chopped down Matheus Cunha at the end of a mazy run. This seemingly innocuous foul would bring together the game's two protagonists, who will remember Thursday's fixture for dramatically different reasons.

Fernandes was promptly handed his second yellow card of the match - and then his third red of the season - for a needless swipe of Nelson Semedo less than two minutes after the restart.

As an out-of-sorts United were reduced to ten men, what had been a tight and tetchy contest morphed into attack vs defence as Wolves poured into the yawning gaps which Fernandes' dismissal created.

However, it took a moment of set-piece magic from Molineux's resident wizard to eventually fire the hosts in front. For the second time in the space of seven days, United conceded directly from a corner - taking their disastrous dead-ball reputation to new depths - as Cunha swung a menacing delivery through the fog and into Andre Onana's net shortly before the hour mark.

 

Wolves racked up lashings of possession, constantly finding the spare man, but couldn't translate their numerical superiority onto the scoreboard. Once that clock ticked into the final ten minutes - before eight more were added on by the fourth official - and it remained only 1-0, United began to prey upon Wolves' nerves which had been shredded by a season of strife.

Hwang belatedly settled the tension with a decisive second deep into stoppage time. Cunha - who else? - charged into an empty United half and selflessly squared for his teammate.