Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-2 Manchester United: 5 talking points as youthful Red Devils sign off with a narrow win | Premier League 2020-21
Manchester United played spoilsports at Nuno Espirito Santo’s farewell to Wolverhampton Wanderers. Goals from Anthony Elanga and Juan Mata secured a 2-1 win for the Red Devils at the Molineux Stadium on the final day of the 2020-21 Premier League campaign.
The visitors, who fielded a second-string side against the largely full-strength Wolves, took the lead in the 13th minute through Elanga. The youngster headed home an excellent cross from Daniel James to bag his first-ever senior goal for Manchester United.
The hosts seemed to snap back into life after conceding the early goal and hit back in the 39th minute. Full-back Nelson Semedo was on hand to finish off an intricate passing move from Wolves, matching Elanga in scoring his first goal for his side.
However, Manchester United hit back just before the half-time interval. After Donny van de Beek was brought down by Roman Saiss in the penalty area, Mata tucked away the resultant spot-kick to put his side in the lead once again.
Buoyed by a vocal set of fans in attendance, the home side stepped up their efforts to get back into the game. However, the Manchester United defense stood firm in the second half to keep Wolves at bay, thus securing three points to wrap up the domestic season on a high.
On that note, here are the five major talking points from the game.
#1 Manchester United have the Europa League final firmly in their sights
While there were a few meaningful fixtures to be played elsewhere in the Premier League, Manchester United were guaranteed a second-placed finish and Champions League football next season regardless of the outcome at the Molineux.
As a result, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer made wholesale changes to the Manchester United lineup, opting to rest the majority of his star names ahead of the upcoming Europa League final against Villarreal.
There were welcome starts for the likes of Donny van de Beek, Juan Mata and Nemanja Matic, while youngsters like Amad Diallo and Anthony Elanga were also given a chance to impress from the start.
However, in the other camp, Wolves named their strongest possible starting eleven as they aimed to welcome fans back to their stadium with a victory on the final day of the season.
#2 Nuno Espirito Santo bids Wolves farewell in front of fans at Molineux
As well as bringing the 2020-21 Premier League campaign for Wolves to an end, this game also signaled the end of Nuno Espirito Santo’s impressive four-year tenure at the club.
The Portuguese departs after an impressive string of achievements at the club. These include promotion back to the top flight, consecutive seventh-placed finishes and even a run to the quarter-finals of the Europa League last season.
Even though the current season has fallen short of the lofty standards set by Nuno and his side, a lot of it can be explained by COVID-related complications. Additionally, the loss of a couple of star players due to injury and outgoing transfers had an impact too
As a result, the outgoing manager received a fond farewell from the Wolves faithful who were in attendance at the ground when the final whistle blew, in recognition of his stellar service to the club. Nuno's exit also signals the start of constant speculation as to where his next destination is likely to be, as well as who Wolves are likely to replace him with.