By CHRIS WHEELER, NORTHERN SPORTS WRITER
Published: 17:12 EST, 8 December 2025 | Updated: 17:34 EST, 8 December 2025
For a team with aspirations of reaching the top-four, Manchester United certainly make hard work of putting away teams from the bottom-four.
Before Thursday’s deflating draw with West Ham at Old Trafford, Ruben Amorim’s side had been held by Nottingham Forest and needed a late winner to beat Burnley.
Here against Wolves, on a night when mutiny was in the air at Molineux, they laboured to victory over a team that could feasibly take Derby’s mantle as the worst in Premier League history.
When Jean-Ricner Bellegarde cancelled out Bruno Fernandes’ rather bizarre opener at the end of the of the first half, it was Wolves’ first league goal in 540 minutes.
For a moment, even the home fans protesting against owners Fosun and executive chairman Jeff Shi stopped in the belief that they might be about to witness a first league win of the season rather than an eighth straight defeat.
Fortunately for Amorim and his players, second-half goals from Bryan Mbeumo, Mason Mount and another from Fernandes made it look easier than it actually was as United moved up six places to sixth.
Bruno Fernandes scored twice as Man United earned a 4-1 win over bottom club Wolves
The Red Devils gave Wolves hope with the hosts scoring their first league goal in 540 minutes
Three second half goals ensured Ruben Amorim's side moved into the Premier League top six
Amorim will take this, though, on a night when Sir Jim Ratcliffe made an appearance and was seen in animated conversation with chief executive Omar Berrada and director football Jason Wilcox in the first half. Failure to beat a team adrift at the foot of the table would have taken some explaining.
Wolves’ record coming into the game was about as grim as it gets; 226 days without a league win, seven defeats in a row in the competition, two points from 14 games this season and on course to equal Derby’s record low of 11.
‘Do you want to fade away, or do you want to fight?’ said manager Rob Edwards as he approached his fourth game in charge. The pre-match protests outside Molineux that left swathes of empty seats behind both goals for the first quarter of an hour suggested that many fans are fearing the latter.
Amorim, not surprisingly, took a more cautious approach to Edwards by warning his players it was only a matter of time before Wolves got their first win.
‘Everything can happen and that will change,’ said Amorim. ‘There is no team in the history of the Premier League that didn’t win one game. It can be any game.’
United’s record this season against the current bottom four suggested his caution was justified, with Thursday’s draw with West Ham a case in point.
Amorim made one change from that game, bringing back Mount in place of Joshua Zirkzee and playing Matheus Cunha through the middle on his first return to Molineux since a £62.5million move to United in the summer.
Victory was important for Amorim on a night where Sir Jim Ratcliffe was in attendance, with the minority owner seen in animated discussions with Omar Berrada and Jason Wilcox
A large number of Wolves fans opted to miss the opening 15 minutes as part of planned protest
Wolves supporters protested against their club chairman Jeff Shi amid their dreadful form
On the pitch, Fernandes opened the scoring with a bizarre goal featuring multiple mistakes
Bellegarde pulled Wolves level on the stroke of half-time and raised hopes of a first league victory of the season
Edwards, meanwhile, brought in Ki-Jana Hoever and Ladislav Krejci to replace the suspended Joao Gomes and Jackson Tchatchoua as he went in search of that elusive win.
The hosts were almost a goal behind inside eight minutes, however, as Diogo Dalot – United’s unlikely goal scorer against the Hammers – almost got another. Fernandes’ quick free kick caught Wolves napping and released his Portugal teammate with only Sam Johnstone to beat, but the former United keeper sprang to his left to keep out Dalot’s shot.
It didn’t take United long to make the breakthrough, but it was a quite comical goal when it arrived.
Andre dithered on the ball midway inside his own half in the 25th minute and was caught out when Casemiro poked it away from him straight to Cunha. The Brazilian skipped inside Emmanuel Agbadou but then under-hit a square pass behind Fernandes who slipped in the box.
The United captain picked himself up and held off Agbadou before falling again as he stabbed the ball goalwards through Johnstone’s weak attempt to keep it out and past Yerson Mosquera as it bobbled over the line.
‘What the f****** hell was that?’ chanted the Wolves fans, and they had a point.
United could have been further ahead before half-time but Toti blocked Cunha’s effort on the line after Johnstone had denied Mbeumo, and Wolves stunned them with an equaliser in first-half injury-time. It was a first league goal in nine hours of league football for a team that didn’t score in the whole of November.
The ball was crossed from left to right and then back again before David Moller Wolfe scuffed it into the ground, rearing up towards Bellegarde unmarked in the box. The Haiti international met it first time, guiding the ball past through a ruck of players and past Senne Lammens.
Bryan Mbuemo restored Man United's lead after a swift move at the start of the second half
Mason Mount put the result beyond doubt by sweeping in impressively after a Fernandes cross
Fernandes scored his second from the penalty spot after Yerson Mosquera blocked a shot with his arm
However, United emerged for the second period with renewed energy and put the game beyond Wolves’ reach with two goals in the space of 11 minutes.
The first in the 52nd minute came after Luke Shaw broke up a Wolves attack with a tackle on Bellegarde. Cunha slid the ball through for Dalot and Johnstone’s dash out of his goal made it an easy decision to square to Mbeumo to score in an empty net.
When Fernandes’ shot was blocked just after the hour mark, he picked out Mount’s run into the box with an excellent cross and his teammate swept the ball past Johnstone with a right-foot volley. It was Mount’s third league goal of the season, more than his first two seasons at United combined.
That was enough but a fourth goal arrived in the 82nd minute when VAR official Nick Hopton spotted Mosquera blocking Diallo’s shot with his arm, and Fernandes scored his second from the spot.
Premier LeagueManchester United