Wolves 0-1 Manchester United: Benched Rashford the hero as Red Devils end 2022 in top four

Rashford
had
scored
two
in
two
since
returning
from
the
World
Cup
but
was
benched
by
Erik
ten
Hag
on
Saturday
(December
31)
for
disciplinary
reasons
as
United
put
in
a
blunt
first-half
performance.

The
England
international
was
introduced
at
the
break
and
had
a
huge
impact,
firing
home
a
76th-minute
winner
with
a
powerful
finish
past
Jose
Sa,
before
he
later
had
a
second
ruled
out
following
a
VAR
check.

It
could
be
a
huge
three
points
for
United
on
the
road
as
they
leapfrog
Tottenham
into
fourth,
with
Spurs
due
to
play
Aston
Villa
on
Sunday.

The
hosts
received
a
huge
let-off
early
on
when
an
under-hit
Nelson
Semedo
backpass
put
Alejandro
Garnacho
in
on
goal,
only
for
Sa
to
bail
out
his
right-back
with
a
vital
stop.

Marcus
Rashford
can’t
stop
scoring!

—
Manchester
United
(@ManUtd)

December
31,
2022

Diego
Costa
missed
a
big
chance
shortly
after,
doing
the
hard
work
to
make
space
for
a
shot
but
sending
a
tame
effort
straight
into
the
waiting
hands
of
David
de
Gea.

Antony
spurned
an
opportunity
before
the
break
when
he
saw
a
header
saved
after
great
work
down
the
left
by
Garnacho
and
Tyrell
Malacia.

Rashford,
brought
on
at
half-time,
had
the
last
laugh
when
his
battling
run
ended
with
him
smashing
into
the
back
of
the
net.

He
had
the
ball
in
the
back
of
the
net
in
the
85th
minute
but
the
ball
was
adjudged
to
have
come
off
his
arm,
and
De
Gea
superbly
kept
out
Raul
Jimenez’s
header
in
the
closing
seconds
as
United
held
on
for
all
three
points.