Marcus Rashford went from villain to hero when he scored the lone goal against Wolves and sent Manchester United into the top four of the Premier League after coming off the bench.
Rashford was not included in the starting lineup by manager Erik ten Hag due to “internal disciplinary” issues.
Nevertheless, after a lackluster first half in which Rashford’s replacement Alejandro Garnacho blew the visitors’ finest opportunity when Jose Sa stopped his shot, the Englishman struck 14 minutes from time.
After passing with Bruno Fernandes and picking up the ball outside of the Wolves box, Rashford evaded three defenders to score his 11th goal in all competitions.
It was the first time he had scored in three successive games for United since December 2019.
The result ended Julen Lopetegui’s two-match winning start as Wolves manager and kept them in the relegation zone.
However, they came so close to snatching a point in stoppage time when Raul Jimenez’s goal-bound header was turned away at point-blank range by David de Gea.
The availability of loan signing Matheus Cunha for Wednesday’s West Midlands derby at Aston Villa cannot come soon enough for a side who struggle so badly to turn impressive approach play into goals.
Lopetegui said: “The way they fought a big team like Man Utd, in the end I thought we deserved more.”
