Games between Manchester United and Wolverhampton Wanderers are tight. In their seven encounters since Wolves were promoted to the Premier League in 2018, none has been decided by more than a goal. Neither side has scored more than twice and both teams, sixth and eighth before the start of play, have won only one league game so far this year.
When the pair met in the FA Cup at Molineux for the second successive season last month, the game ended 0-0. The replay was decided when Marcus Rashford was brought off the bench to play a part in the tie-deciding goal.
Both had the opportunity to close the gap on fourth-placed Chelsea, who drew at Leicester City, but with Rashford out injured for months, perhaps it wasn’t a surprise that Saturday’s mediocre encounter, the sixth in the past 10 months, ended in another stalemate.
Bruno Fernandes, the new €55 million (rising to a possible €80m) signing from Sporting Lisbon, started after only one training session with his new teammates. After being serenaded by fans when he was introduced, the Portuguese played in a central role in United's formation behind front man Anthony Martial. Fernandes' debut was hardly explosive and he was shown a yellow card after pulling back Raul Jimenez, but there were encouraging signs of his quality as he shot more times than any of his teammates and always looked to pass forward in a side which is too flat. He faded towards the end after a promising start, but that is understandable given that he was thrown in at the deep end.
United's other transfer window acquisition, Odion Ighalo, will arrive this week from China. With this season's top scorer Rashford out injured along with last season's Paul Pogba, United need goals from someone. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's team have failed to score in their last three league matches. Martial, playing in the central attacking role, was poor, as he often is without Rashford.
At the other end, Wolves tried to take advantage of United’s frequently exposed frailties at set pieces without success as David de Gea made his 300th United appearance. Luke Shaw usually had the measure of Wolves’ greatest threat Adama Traore, while Harry Maguire also performed well.
“How many teams break down Wolverhampton?” asked Solskjaer afterwards. “They’re a hard team to play. I’m happy with my boys.” But Southampton, Watford and Brighton have all worked out how to score twice against Wolves in the last two months and few United fans will be "happy" with a home draw against any team. This, however, is United in 2020, a faded force fighting for fifth spot.
Fernandes arrives in good form as well as a hefty price tag. He scored 15 goals for the Sporting team he captained this season, 33 last term. He has the X factor, which this United side desperately needs. It's unfair to complain that it wasn't instantly apparent against Wolves. United have 35 points from 25 games, Liverpool have 73, but there are only two other teams that have a gap less than 30 points between them and the runaway leaders.
A fatigued United now have a much-needed two-week break, but will return still in the Europa League and the FA Cup, so there will be plenty of games for Fernandes to show what he can do.
United fans paid tribute to the 1958 Munich air crash before the game with a large flag at the Stretford End and in the 58th minute of the match with chants of ‘Stand up for the Busby Babes’ and ‘We’ll keep the red flag flying high.’
A muted 68th minute fan walk-out in protest against the way the Glazer family run the club was supported by around 60 supporters.
Both sides had chances to win the game, with substitute Diogo Dalot heading wide in injury time, but a draw was a fair result, United’s superior possession not compensating for their toothlessness in attack.
