Bruno Fernandes was sent off for a third time this season on Thursday, as Manchester United fell to their eighth league defeat of the season away to Wolves.
Matheus Cunha's second-half goal straight from a corner opened the scoring, and Hwang Hee-Chan's injury time strike secured a vital 2-0 win for the home side which moves them out of the relegation zone - temporarily, at least.
Matheus Cunha scores straight from a corner 🤯
The Brazilian gives Wolves the lead against ten-man Manchester United 🐺 pic.twitter.com/aJ0qbxuAkt— Premier Sports Ireland (@PremSportsIRL) December 26, 2024
The derby win away to Manchester City earlier this month increasingly looks like a flash-in-the-pan for United, as Ruben Amorim's charges continued to struggle with another poor performance at Molineux.
Marcus Rashford was once again left out of the squad, and the attacking trio of Fernandes, Amad Diallo and Rasmus Hojlund struggled to create anything of note in the first period.
A sloppy first-half yellow card for Fernandes was to be punished early in the second period, as the United captain was shown a second yellow for a similarly sloppy challenge after losing possession on the edge of the Wolves box.
A remarkable stat showed just how dire Fernandes' third red card of the season was.
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Bruno Fernandes earns third red card of season v Wolves
After dismissals earlier this season against Tottenham Hotspur and Porto, the red card at Molineux was the third this campaign for Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes.
Remarkably, he is the first United player to receive three red cards in a single season since Nemanja Vidic during the 2008-09 campaign. Vidic's red cards came in both league games against Liverpool, as well as the Club World Cup final against LDU Quito.
Fernandes' controversial first red card of the season was admittedly rescinded on appeal but there were few mitigating factors for the following two dismissals. The fact that both were for two bookings will raise valid questions about the Portuguese midfielder's temperament.
Similar questions have been asked of Fernandes' suitability for the United captaincy, with some regularity over the past few seasons. For any player to receive three red cards in one season is a dire return but for such a stat to belong to your club captain will be of great concern to new head coach Ruben Amorim.
Manchester United now sit in a miserly 14th in the Premier League table, and will be without both captain Bruno Fernandes and Manuel Ugarte for the visit of Newcastle to Old Trafford next Monday. It doesn't look things will be getting easier for Amorim any time soon.
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