Manchester United climbed to sixth in the Premier League on Monday as Bruno Fernandes scored twice to complete a comfortable 4-1 win at bottom club Wolverhampton Wanderers, whose disastrous season is growing bleaker by the week.
Despondent Wolves fans spent most of the first half chanting in protest against the club’s Chinese owners Fosun, and their mood soured as Fernandes gave United a 25th-minute lead.
To their credit, Wolves showed some enterprise and were cheered at half-time after Haitian international Jean-Ricner Bellegarde fired home an equalizer in stoppage time.
Bryan Mbeumo restored United’s lead with a tap-in after 52 minutes, and Mason Mount’s composed finish made it 3-1 just after the hour mark. Fernandes completed the job for United with a penalty after VAR spotted a handball.
When nine minutes of stoppage time were announced, the Wolves fans still in Molineux booed and chanted ‘blow the whistle’.
Ruben Amorim’s United have 25 points from 15 games, while Wolves’ club record eighth league defeat in a row and 13th of the season left them two points behind and in danger of making unwanted Premier League history.
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Their points tally is the lowest after fifteen games in the history of the top four English tiers, and they have not had a league win since April, losing sixteen games and drawing three since then.
Wolves are now thirteen points clear of the safety zone and the key is not whether they can mount a breakout bid, but whether they can surpass Derby County’s all-time Premier League points tally, which managed just 11 points in 2007-08.
United looks up
While Wolves are looking down, United are starting to look up, and while there were moments in the first half where they looked vulnerable, their performance in the second half was silky smooth.
They finished with 27 goal attempts, the most since Amorim took charge, and could have won by a bigger margin.
«Attacking with freedom. I thought some of the combinations going forward were clear and sharp, and that’s what we can do,» said Mount, who sent a lovely first volley from Fernandes’ chipped ball into the area.
Fernandes had opened the scoring by firing past Sam Johnstone in the Wolves goal despite falling.
However, United lost some control and Wolves leveled just before the break when Bellegarde fired home after David Moller Wolfe’s shot had bounced into his path.
Wolves leveled just before the break when Bellegarde fired home after David Moller Wolfe’s shot had deflected into his path. | Photo credit: AFP
Wolves leveled just before the break when Bellegarde fired home after David Moller Wolfe’s shot had deflected into his path. | Photo credit: AFP
It was the first goal Wolves scored in 540 minutes but after a brief burst of joy, gloom descended again in the second half when Diogo Dalot squared it for Mbeumo.
After Mount’s goal, Fernandes grabbed his second of the evening with a typically confident penalty after Yerson Mosquera was ruled by VAR to have had a shot on target.
Wolves were jeered and manager Rob Edwards, who replaced Vítor Pereira last month, said he could not blame the fans.
«There was anger in the stadium. The boys are trying. The supporters are angry and I understand that,» he said. «It’s the toughest competition in the world and we came into a team that hadn’t won since April. I didn’t expect a quick turnaround.»
With a visit to Premier League leaders Arsenal next, things are likely to get worse before they get better for the Midlands club.
Published on December 9, 2025
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