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| Marcus Rashford of Manchester United celebrates scoring a disallowed goal with Antony & Bruno Fernandes during the Premier League match between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Manchester United at Molineux on December 31, 2022 in Wolverhampton, United Kingdom. |
Marcus Rashford turned from villain to hero as he came off the bench to score the only goal against Wolves and move Manchester United into the Premier League top four.
Manager Erik ten Hag left Rashford out of his starting line-up for “internal disciplinary” reasons.
But after a disappointing opening period, in which Rashford’s replacement Alejandro Garnacho wasted the visitors’ best chance when his shot was saved by Jose Sa, the England man scored 14 minutes from time.
Rashford picked the ball up outside the Wolves area, then, after exchanging passes with Bruno Fernandes, held off three defenders before driving home his 11th goal of the season 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.”
