Manchester United’s set-piece curse struck again as Matheus Cunha became the second player in three games to score directly from a corner against them as Wolves defeated them to climb out of the bottom three.
Ruben Amorim’s men were already up against it at at Molineux following the 47th-minute dismissal of skipper Bruno Fernandes for a second yellow card.
However, just as Son Hueng-min did for Tottenham a week ago, Cunha found the net with a corner that sailed over Andre Onana’s outstretched arm in a crowded six-yard box.
The points were sealed in the eighth minute of added time when, as United chased an equaliser, Wolves broke and Cunha squared the ball for Hwang Hee-chan to make it 2-0.
In recent weeks, Amorim has tried and failed to make his side more secure but Arsenal, Nottingham Forest and Bournemouth have also capitalised from United’s frailty at defending balls pumped into their box during a run of five defeats in seven games in all competitions.
Amorim has now collected seven points from his six league games in charge. By contrast new Wolves boss Vitor Pereira has six from two as he followed up the weekend win at Leicester with a first home victory over United since 2019.
If life was not bad enough for United, they will now be without Fernandes for the home game with Newcastle on 30 December and also midfielder Manuel Ugarte, who picked up his fifth booking of the season.