Manchester United turned up the heat in the second half to thrash Wolverhampton Wanderers 4-1 at the Molineux on Monday. The win catapulted the Red Devils to sixth in the Premier League, within touching distance of the Champions League places. The visitors did take the lead through Bruno Fernandes, but the hosts equalised on the stroke of half-time, their first league goal since October. But Ruben Amorim’s half-time pep talk did the trick, as the away team scored three times in the space of 30 minutes through Bryan Mbeumo, Mason Mount, and another strike from the skipper to ease past the bottom team in the English top-flight. Ayden Heaven has had to bide his time The win was never guaranteed given the team’s recent form, and the fact that the head coach was missing several key stars due to injury. Matthijs de Ligt did not recover from his knock, as Amorim had hoped for, and there was yet another start for Ayden Heaven at the heart of the back three. Against West Ham United, the 19-year-old lasted only 45 minutes before he was taken off. There has already been rumours of the 20-time English league champions being open to loaning him out in January. And with Leny Yoro waiting in the wings, plenty would have wanted the ex-Sporting CP boss to turn to the Frenchman instead. However, Amorim kept faith in the former Arsenal academy graduate, who put in a much improved display against Wolves. This was only the England U20 international’s third start of the campaign, and he was grateful for Amorim’s trust under trying circumstances. He told MUTV after the game, “I’ve had to be patient and I feel the manager trusts me more now. Whenever I’m playing, I’m doing better each time. I want to keep developing and show what I can do. “There’s nothing better than winning. The win means we are going up, near the top. It is a great feeling.” The team purred in the second half Following a drab first half and the poor recent results, the Red Devils needed a solid response. And as per the left-footed defender, not only did the team respond, they also did it in style with a scintillating second-half display. “We needed a reaction given we dropped points in the previous game. We did that today and I’m really proud of the team’s performance. “I feel great. It’s good to get another win. We’re going to take this confidence into the coming games. When we play like this, not many teams can beat us.” Hopefully, Ayden Heaven can keep this form up amid no update on De Ligt from Amorim. If he continues to take his opportunities, it might become difficult to dislodge him from the starting XI. Feature image Shaun Botterill via Getty Images The Peoples Person has been one of the world’s leading Man United news sites for over a decade. Follow us on Bluesky: @peoplesperson.bsky.social Ayantan Chowdhury After failing to become a professional footballer, Ayantan switched to the next best thing: writing about the greatest football club in the world. He has extensive sports journalism experience, having worked for over 10 years in the Indian sports media industry, writing for the biggest newspapers and websites. Currently an editor at The Peoples Person. You can follow him on X: @ayantanc_25





