Fernandes stars as Man Utd hit four at Wolves to go sixth

Manchester United climbed to sixth in the table with a 4-1 victory over bottom club Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux.

Ruben Amorim's side did not initially have it all their own way as Bruno Fernandes' 25th-minute opener was cancelled out by Jean-Ricner Bellegarde on the stroke of half-time.

But they streaked clear in the second half, with Bryan Mbeumo restoring their advantage on the counter-attack before Fernandes' sumptuous pass teed up Mason Mount in the 62nd minute.

Fernandes then capped the scoring from the penalty spot with eight minutes remaining after Yerson Mosquera was penalised for handball, as Wolves' wait for a first win of the campaign continues.

Rob Edwards’ men are already 13 points adrift of 17th-placed Nottingham Forest, having made the joint-worst start to a season in Premier League history, while United are one point off the top four.

How the match unfolded

United went close twice early on, with Sam Johnstone denying Diogo Dalot after the wing-back beat Wolves' offside trap, before keeping out Mbeumo's volley.

A litany of Wolves mistakes soon gifted United the lead. Andre was easily dispossessed by Casemiro, and despite slipping following Matheus Cunha's lay-off, Fernandes recovered to bundle a shot past Johnstone.

Watch: Fernandes' first goal v Wolves

Toti Gomes then made a goalline clearance to deny Cunha, and Wolves took advantage of that reprieve in the second minute of first-half stoppage time. David Moller Wolfe returned an overhit cross into the centre, and Bellegarde steered in a first-time finish.

But United piled on the pressure after the break and retook the lead when Dalot's centre was tapped into an empty net by Mbeumo 51 minutes in.

And it was 3-1 just after the hour mark, as Fernandes lifted a sensational pass over Wolves' backline, handing Mount a simple side-footed finish.

Fernandes finished the game with a brace, slotting into the bottom-left corner from 12 yards after Mosquera was penalised for blocking Amad's shot with his arm following a VAR review.

Wolves briefly show fight, then fade away

Having overseen three defeats in his first three games in charge of Wolves, Edwards used his pre-match press conference to ask his players whether they wanted "to fight, or to fade away". On Monday, they did a bit of both.

Wolves gift-wrapped United's opener when Andre was dispossessed by his Brazil team-mate Casemiro. They had two chances to prevent the goal, but Emmanuel Agbadou failed to capitalise on Fernandes' slip, and Johnstone let a tame shot bounce under his left arm.

However, Wolves then found some battling spirit to score their first goal in over eight hours of Premier League action. Moller Wolfe was the architect, with his half-volleyed cutback being directed into the corner by a sliding Bellegarde.

But any positive feeling generated soon faded, with an injury to the lively Bellegarde not helping matters. United's second and third goals came when Toti and Agbadou, respectively, failed to play the offside trap.

And the third member of Wolves' backline, Mosquera, was also culpable for a goal when his right arm blocked Amad's rocket of a shot. When Fernandes tucked his penalty away, he did so in front of swathes of empty gold seats.

A look at the fixture list is unlikely to cheer Wolves' disgruntled supporters, with a trip to leaders Arsenal up next on Saturday.

United find their groove as strong away run continues

It looked as though Amorim's reign finally had lift-off when United picked up a perfect nine points in October, but a run of just one victory from their next five games brought renewed pressure ahead of this trip to Molineux.

The Red Devils were lacklustre in attack during last week's 1-1 draw with West Ham United, but helped by their generous hosts, they showed a huge improvement here.

Fernandes' goal was somewhat fortuitous, but United also passed up several other chances in the first half, with Johnstone smothering an Mbeumo effort at his near post and Cunha seeing a header deflect off Agbadou and land on the top of the net.

Amorim will not be happy with United's lack of control near the end of the first period, but they took advantage of the stretched nature of the game soon after the interval, with Cunha's pass finding Dalot in acres of space for Mbeumo's goal.

Cunha was busy on his first return to Molineux, though he could not make any of his eight shots count. His fellow attackers Fernandes and Mount were left to get the goals, with their link-up for the third being the standout moment of quality.

Despite all the noise, United have now lost just one Premier League game since the end of September and are unbeaten in five away games. They will hope to replicate that form at Old Trafford next Monday, against AFC Bournemouth.

Club reports

Wolves report | Man Utd report

What the managers said

Rob Edwards: "We got ourselves back in the game but the goals we conceded we'll never get anything from a game. We gave the ball to them, 'there you go Man Utd'. It's impossible to win a game of football that way.

"It's understandable at times, there's a nervousness around, a lack of confidence and rhythm. They're human beings, they feel it.

"We have to try to work very hard, try to learn and try to improve.

"It's the toughest league in the world and we came into a team who hadn't won since April. I wasn't anticipating a quick turnaround."

Ruben Amorim: "I think we started the game really well. We scored a goal and we let Wolves a little bit get back into the game. We suffered in the last play of the first half but in the second half we had good pace, good quality in the decisions. We finished the game and Wolves is in one difficult moment. 

"We score four but we had a lot of shots.  I think we improved a lot if you compare last season and this season we are creating so much more chances and scoring more goals and having more real situations of danger, so I'm really pleased with that."

Next PL fixtures

Key facts

Wolves equalled their longest-ever losing streak in league history, also losing eight in a row between December 1981 and February 1982.

Man Utd have won three and drawn two of their last five Premier League away games, last stringing together a longer unbeaten run on the road in February 2022 (W3 D4).

Wolves’ haul of only two points in the Premier League this season is the joint-lowest tally after 15 games of a campaign in the history of the top four tiers, level with Sheffield United in the Premier League in 2020/21, Southport in 1975/76 in the Fourth Division and Barrow and Newport County in 1970/71 in the Fourth Division.

Man Utd mustered 27 shots in the game, their most in the Premier League under Amorim, with the Red Devils last managing more in a top-flight game in December 2023 against Chelsea (28).