Wolves 2 (Cunha 58 Hwang 90+9) Manchester United 0
Wolves put on a Boxing Day show and gave Vitor Pereira the perfect introduction to Molineux with a 2-0 victory over Manchester United under the lights.
Just four days after a dominant victory away at Leicester City, Wolves returned home to make it back-to-back wins and lift themselves out of the drop zone thanks to second half goals from Matheus Cunha and Hee Chan Hwang.
The momentum of a tight game tilted Wolves’ way when Bruno Fernandes was sent off early in the second half and Cunha scored direct from a corner soon after. The Brazilian then helped Wolves seal the win in added time, setting up Hwang to seal a big win for Pereira and his side.
The opening 10 minutes were largely uneventful on the chances front; however it did look promising for Wolves with good patterns of play emerging from the off, with Pereira’s work over the past week on show from the off.
Both Jose Sa and Andre Onana were introduced to the game shortly after. First, Wolves’ Matt Doherty linked up with Goncalo Guedes and put his cross marginally to close to the United stopper, before Sa excelled further by tipping Diogo Dalot’s strike out for a corner impressively.
Wolves were holding their threat from distance. Goncalo Guedes narrowly cleared the crossbar from distance, before Nelson Semedo’s strike from even further out took a deflection and flew just wide of Onana’s post.
The skipper also set up Jorgen Strand Larsen to test Onana, tipping the Norwegian’s header over, with the two sides going in for the break level, but with Wolves increasing their influence on the game.
Half-time | Wolves 0–0 Man United
Just two minutes into the second half the game turned. Fernandes saw himself booked on a second occasion for a poor and high challenge on Semedo, resulting in a sending off and depleting United to 10 men.
Wolves thought they had more good fortunes on the 49th minute mark when they had the ball in the back of the net. Semedo latched onto a long ball down the right flank and perfectly weighted a cross into Strand Larsen’s aerial path, however his headed goal was deemed to be offside after a lengthy VAR check.
With the extra man, Wolves were taking advantage and creating better chances. Firstly through Cunha down the left, as he poked a low cross into the box, which was to Ait-Nouri, but his effort was blocked and rolled into Onana’s arms.
Just two minutes later Doherty’s devilish delivery won Wolves a corner and Cunha, who’d already come from a corner in the first half, swung in a dead ball delivery which flew over Onana’s head and straight into the corner, with Doherty and Santiago Bueno putting the stopper under pressure.
It marked the first goal at Molineux under Pereira’s reign, and it certainly lived up to the occasion. The goal took Cunha’s tally for the Premier League season up to 10 and counting.
Wolves were making use of the extra man, who Casemiro did fire a header into Sa’s midriff. Alejandro Garnacho then did similar from a Casemiro cross, looping a header over Sa and his crossbar.
Wolves spent much of the eight added on minutes playing the clock down, before the opportunity for a second arose when Tommy Doyle earned possession with a big tackle and freed Cunha, who rolled across for Hwang to knock home his first goal of the season. Back-to-back wins and clean sheets.
Full-time | Wolves 2–0 Man United
Wolves | Sa, Semedo (Bellegarde 90+2), Doherty, Bueno, Toti, Ait-Nouri (R. Gomes 87), Andre, J. Gomes (Doyle 73), Guedes (Hwang 73), Cunha, Strand Larsen (Dawson 90+2).
Subs not used | Johnstone, Forbs, Meupiyou, Lima.
Man United | Onana, Yoro (Antony 63), Maguire, Martinez, Mazraoui, Ugarte (Eriksen 63), Mainoo (Casemiro 63), Dalot, Diallo (Garnacho 79), Fernandes, Hojlund (Zirkzee 79).
Subs not used | Bayindir, de Ligt, Evans, Collyer.
Referee | Tony Harrington.
By Callum Greybanks
