Manchester United breathed new life into their season with their first win of the campaign, as the Premier League’s best performer, Bruno Fernandes, bagged a hat-trick in a 5-2 demolition of newcomers Ipswich Town on Sunday at Old Trafford.
The Red Devils had seen a red warning just last weekend in their league opener, when Hull City humbled them 2-0, serving up a gritty reality check.
Facing another newly promoted side, an early victory seemed far from inevitable as United were the first to concede and found themselves on the ropes when Leif Davis opened the scoring for the Tractor Boys.
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Man United vs Ipswich Town
Senne Lammens had to make a crucial one-on-one save from Julio Enciso after the forward broke clear from a United corner before Ipswich eventually took the lead in the 29th minute.
Abdul Fatawu burned Luke Shaw for pace down the wing, and his cross was brilliantly swept high into the net by Davis.
Moments later, the Ipswich left-back had an even better opportunity to double the visitors’ advantage, but his tame effort was comfortably saved by Lammens.
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Instead, the game swung on an Ipswich error as Marcelino Nunez slipped and gifted possession to Matheus Cunha, who fed Fernandes to fire home with his weaker left foot.
Fernandes restored parity before half-time and then, having been crowned last season’s Player of the Year by his fellow professionals this week, coolly converted from the spot after a Jacob Greaves own goal had put United in front.
Another setback struck Gary O’Neil’s men 11 minutes into the second half.
The ball came off Harry Maguire’s arm before he fired a shot, and the goal would have been ruled out had it gone directly into the net.
However, because the effort was heading off target and deflected in off Greaves, it was allowed to stand as it was not deemed to be a handball leading directly to a goal.
Greaves was still trying to clear his head from that setback when he brought down Cunha as the Brazilian bore down on goal.
Fernandes’ 21 Premier League assists last season were instrumental in earning him a haul of individual awards, despite scoring just nine times.
The Portuguese international is already a third of the way to matching that tally, as he was in the right place to latch onto Mbeumo’s deflected shot and complete his hat-trick.
There was still time for Fernandes to add an assist when Mbeumo raced onto his lofted pass and cleverly looped the ball over giant Ipswich goalkeeper Kjell Scherpen.
However, a fine attacking display was book-ended by United’s defensive errors, as Ipswich were gifted a consolation goal in stoppage time. Lisandro Martinez was caught in possession by Enciso, who teed up Chuba Akpom to tap into an empty net.