Wolves 0-1 Manchester United: Marcus Rashford scores winner to send Reds into top four

Manchester United visited the Molineux Stadium on New Year’s day, with in-form talisman Marcus Rashford scoring the winner in a 1-0 victory against Wolves.

Erik ten Hag only made one change to the winning side from the Forest game, with young Alejandro Garnacho starting ahead of Marcus Rashford. Early pre-match reports have suggested that the English forward did not start the game due to disciplinary reasons.

United’s first chance of the game fell to Casemiro, who connected with Christian Eriksen’s corner kick. His header would have gone in if not for a timely intervention by Matheus Nunes.

A simple mistake on the ball from Nelson Semedo sent Garnacho clear through on goal. However, the youngster had his effort saved by Jose Sá.

Near the half-hour mark, Antony found enough space to fire a shot from the right-hand side. However, his deflected attempt was not enough to beat the keeper. Wolves immediately countered on the other end, but João Moutinho was denied by Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s block.

A neatly worked ball by Antony and Bruno Fernandes found Anthony Martial inside the box. However, the Frenchman was closed off by Nathan Collins.

Tyrell Malacia then delivered a peach of a cross that found Antony unmarked in a dangerous area, but the Brazilian’s attempt was again too weak for the keeper.

The first half ended with another huge chance from Martial, his scuffed header was parried onto the path of Antony who also failed to pounce, but he would have been offside anyway.

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To start the second half, Ten Hag brought on Marcus Rashford in place of Garnacho. Rashford’s introduction brought new life into United’s attack. Everybody picked up the pace and created two further openings for Antony.

Wolves did produce a great chance from Ruben Neves’ free-kick but David de Gea came up with the big save.

It was apparent since the first half that United’s midfield set-up lacked energy. At the hour mark, Fred came on for Eriksen.

United finally broke the deadlock in the 76th minute. A crisp one-two pass between Bruno and Rashford put the Englishman in a prime position to score. He bullied a Wolves defender and unleashed a fierce strike into the net.

In the closing stages of the game, Rashford found the net for a second time but his goal was ruled out for handball.

Wolves came really close to finding an equalizer but De Gea came up with a phenomenal point-blank save.

United’s resilience at the end meant they took all three points back to Manchester while Wolves can go back to their training ground and practice their low block defending.