(Football news) Manchester United remain poised to qualify for the Champions League next season after defeating Wolves 2-0 at Old Trafford on Saturday. The result means that the Red Devils are now level on points with third place Newcastle, who drew 2-2 at Leeds and are four points ahead of fifth place Liverpool. While it was not a memorable performance by any means, they managed to get the job done in a must win fixture and showed great defensive solidity, preventing Wolves from having a single shot on target.
Anthony Martial scored the opening goal in the 32nd minute, tapping into an empty net from Antony’s pass before Alejandro Garnacho doubled the advantage in stoppage time to seal the victory. In team news, Raphael Varane started for Manchester United after a month on the sidelines while Marcus Rashford was absent. Anthony Martial and Jadon Sancho featured in the starting lineup while Tyrell Malacia and Wout Weghorst were on the bench. As for Wolves, Daniel Bentley replaced Jose Sa in goal in what was his Premier League debut.
Speaking after the match, Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag said “We had to bounce back from two defeats and individual mistakes, when we had no energy and played slow. Today we had to win and we did it. We are very good at making the opponents’ goalkeeper man of the match! We have to be more clinical.
“Last week we had bad experiences when we were not focused, didn’t have the energy, made mistakes and were losing games. That is not United. We have to match the highest standard. It’s all about winning games. But I have heard United never go the easy way. That’s in the DNA and we will follow that line – but we have to get over the line.”
Wolves manager Julen Lopetegui said “I am not happy because we lost but I don’t have anything to talk about with the attitude of the players. It was not easy to play against a team that is fighting to be in the Champions League. We have achieved our important aim but we tried to play and compete with Manchester United. Once they scored it was more difficult for us.
“We had 20, 25 minutes playing good football but maybe we could do better with more dangerous spirit in the opposition box. It’s a pity because I had the feeling during the second half that maybe we could draw the match. If the club wants to keep in the Premier League and to improve, they have to take a decision and look at what has happened this year to create a different situation.”
Also read: Arsenal title hopes are all but over after loss to Brighton at Emirates Stadium
