Pogba sees penalty saved as United are held at Wolves

Manchester United missed out on the chance to go joint top with Liverpool and Arsenal after they drew 1-1 at Wolves at Molineux in their Premier League encounter. Anthony Martial netted for the away side in the 27th minute to reflect Man Utd's superiority in the first half, but Ruben Neves levelled the scores in the second half and Paul Pogba failed to convert a spot kick for the away side to give Wolves a huge point. 

The away side had plenty of possession early on, but they did not have a clear cut opportunity until the 18th minute when Martial was centimetres away from turning home Rashford's cross. United continued to dominate play and Daniel James, who started this game, was booked six minutes later for his second blatant dive of the evening. In the 27th minute, Man U took the lead.

Lingard, Rashford and Martial combined well with quick passing and the Frenchman finished the move with a strike which went in off the crossbar. Wolves did react to falling behind by winning the odd corner, but United dealt with their attacks very easily. United continued to control the ball and apart from a claim by Moutinho of Pogba stamping on his leg, there was little to talk about for the rest of the first half until the stroke of half-time. 

Bennett made a terrible mistake at the back, but a combination of a poor touch by Martial and good Boly defending meant the chance was squandered. United went into the sheds in front, but Wolves were a completely different outfit in the second period. 

Adama Traore was brought on for Doherty and the home side had a couple of dangerous moves inside the opening few minutes. In fact, Daniel James was very lucky not to get a second yellow after a foul on Diogo Jota. Wolves continue to press and nine minutes into the second half, they were nearly rewarded when Moutinho's free-kick was headed by Ruben Jimenez, but the ball hit the far post and then hit De Gea on the arm. Seconds later though, their perseverance was rewarded. 

A corner was taken short to Jota, he passed to Moutinho and he then gave it to Neves who scored an absolute screamer from outside the box. De Gea got fingertips to the ball which went in off the crossbar and VAR confirmed the goal after checking for a possible offside by Joao Moutinho. 

The goal seemed to spur Solskjaer's men into action and their golden opportunity came in the 66th minute. Pogba played a lovely one-two with Martial before being brought down in the area by Coady. After a discussion with his teammates, Pogba, not Rashford, stepped up to take the penalty. Unfortunately for him, Rui Patricio dived to his right to save his spot kick.

Wolves then played on the counter, but despite a couple of nice runs by Traore down this near side, Nuno Espirito Santo's did not score again. Dendoncker's shot over from the bar on the counter five minutes from time was their best chance. United were desperate for a winner and although they had many corners, Wolves cleared their lines on every occasion. Their best opportunity came right at the death through Shaw, but Pereira had already been penalised anyway. 

The game ended 1-1, but Solskjaer can be criticised for making his subs too late. Juan Mata did not come on until the 81st minute and the double change was carried out in the 89th minute giving his fresh players little time to make an impact. As a result of the penalty save, United missed the chance to go joint top, but Wolves deserved the draw after their second half display. They start the campaign with two draws and go into Thursday's Europa League play-off first leg tie with Torino with plenty of confidence.