Struggling Manchester United returned to type as Pablo Sarabia curled home a brilliant 77th-minute free-kick to secure a fifth straight top-flight win for Wolves for the first time since 1970 and end any lingering fears of relegation.
United’s performance could not have been in greater contrast to their thrilling efforts in midweek against Lyon.
They have now lost 15 games this season, more than last term and their worst since 1989-90, when they lost on 16 occasions.
Ruben Amorim’s team can now add Wolves to Crystal Palace, Brighton, Bournemouth, Newcastle and Nottingham Forest as teams that have come to Old Trafford since the Portuguese took charge in November and left with maximum points.
United have now taken nine points from their past 10 Premier League games. The only teams they have beaten in that period are Leicester and Ipswich, who are both in the bottom three.
Rasmus Hojlund was inches away from turning home Alejandro Garnacho’s low cross at the far post for the hosts but he has now scored once in his last 28 games.
While Amorim has not made United’s results better since replacing Erik ten Hag, Vitor Pereira has transformed Wolves.
From being in a relegation dogfight for much of the campaign, they are now safe with five games to spare and are behind today’s opponents only on goal difference.
United back to earth with a bang
It really did not need spelling out but everyone connected with Manchester United knows winning the Europa League is the only thing standing between them and a catastrophic campaign, the like of which it was impossible to imagine in the financially driven Premier League era.
Even last season, when they finished eighth, was better than this.
There were elements of positivity, which chiefly came through the mature performances of youngsters Harry Amass and, on his debut, 20-year-old central defender Tyler Fredricson.
But really, a largely drab encounter, in which the home side had just two shots on target, just emphasised that aside from skipper Bruno Fernandes, who was left on the bench for the first hour as Amorim focuses on the Europa League semi-final with Athletic Bilbao, United badly lack a creative spark.
Dan Bentley did tip a first-half Christian Eriksen free-kick over the bar but there never seemed likely to be a repeat of the late heroics against Lyon.
Teenage forward Chido Obi came on for Hojlund towards the end but the youngster never threatened either and Fernandes screwed a good opportunity wide from Garnacho’s cut-back.
And, as United have significant issues on the pitch, there is a great sense of unease off it as well.
There were no significant protests arranged by the more militant supporter groups.
But right in front of the directors box the fans, many of whom have had season tickets for decades, continued to make their feelings known about their pending relocation to create a new corporate seating area.
Banners including blunt messages like ‘tourists over fans’ and more detailed ones, accusing owners Sir Jim Ratcliffe and the Glazer family of letting supporters down, were raised barely 10 yards away from chief executive Omar Berrada and chief operating officer Collette Roche as they took their seats in the directors box.
Pereira’s made a big impact
Wolves’ fourth away league win in a row was a masterclass in containment, and striking when the opportunity arose.
Pereira has drilled his defenders to perform in a cohesive manner in a way predecessor Gary O’Neil could not.
While it could be argued Wolves’ squad is better than it appeared under O’Neil, especially in the latter weeks of his reign, it is a measure of the impact Pereira has had that they kept an admittedly weak United side at arms’ length with relative ease.
For once, Matheus Cunha was a subdued presence, so it was Sarabia who stepped up to take the pivotal free-kick conceded by Eriksen close to the United box.
Andre Onana thought he had got his wall right. But Sarabia spotted an opportunity and, just three minutes after his introduction, scored the goal that secured Wolves’ Premier League safety.
[BBC]