Bruno Fernandes hat-trick turns it around: Manchester United 5-2 Ipswich Town

A week after losing 2-0 at promoted Hull, Manchester United went behind at home to promoted Ipswich. For half an hour, Old Trafford was bracing for another bad afternoon.

Then Bruno Fernandes took the game over. He equalised on 40, converted a penalty on 61 and completed the hat-trick on 68. In between, Jacob Greaves turned a United cross into his own net. Bryan Mbeumo made it five. Chuba Akpom's stoppage-time header was the last word in a 5-2 that flattered nobody.

33 shots, and the xG to match

United had 33 attempts to Ipswich's nine and ran up 4.55 expected goals against 2.01. Leif Davis's early finish, after Abdul Fatawu had beaten Luke Shaw, briefly suggested a repeat of the Hull result. Michael Carrick's side answered by simply not stopping.

It is a first win of the season for United and a first defeat for Gary O'Neil's Ipswich, who had opened with a 2-1 win over Sunderland.

Match facts

• 29' — Leif Davis (Ipswich Town)
• 40' — Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United)
• 56' — Jacob Greaves (Ipswich Town), own goal
• 61' — Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United), penalty
• 68' — Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United)
• 82' — Bryan Mbeumo (Manchester United)
• 90+1' — Chuba Akpom (Ipswich Town)

A win sandwiched between two damaging afternoons

This result did not arrive out of nowhere, and it did not settle anything either. A week earlier, United had lost 2-0 at promoted Hull City despite 71.5% possession and 21 shots — Hull's first league win over United since 1974, both goals coming from Regan Slater set pieces United never got under control. Marcus Rashford came on at half-time that day for his first competitive United appearance in 618 days, and it changed the mood in the away end more than it changed the scoreline.

A week after beating Ipswich, United led twice at Everton and still came away with a draw. Bryan Mbeumo put them ahead a minute into the second half, Benjamin Sesko restored the lead after Tyrique George had equalised, and Ainsley Maitland-Niles curled in a stoppage-time debut goal to make it 2-2. Three matches, three different Uniteds: battered by Hull, ruthless against Ipswich, unable to see out a lead at Hill Dickinson Stadium. The one constant is defensive: United have now conceded two or more goals in every league match they have played this season.

Ipswich's return to the top flight, either side of Old Trafford

Ipswich had opened their season with a 2-1 win over Sunderland at Portman Road, a match Gary O'Neil started with seven debutants in his XI. Emersonn scored on debut after an error by Luke O'Nien, Sunderland levelled through a Nilson Angulo free-kick, and Jack Clarke — once a Sunderland player himself — settled it in the 90th minute after a further Sunderland giveaway. It was the platform O'Neil's rebuilt squad needed before facing a wounded United side the following week.

The comeback at Old Trafford was followed by a heavier one. Liverpool won 2-0 at Portman Road with Alexander Isak scoring twice in the space of three minutes, both goals set up by Cody Gakpo, for Andoni Iraola's first win and first clean sheet as Liverpool manager. Ipswich actually finished with more shots than Liverpool that afternoon but could not turn territory into anything on the scoreboard — a pattern already visible in the Old Trafford defeat, where nine shots produced two goals against United's 33.

Where both sides stand now

Three matchweeks in, Manchester United sit 11th on 4 points — one win, one draw, one loss, 7 goals for and 6 against. Ipswich Town are 14th on 3 points, with one win and two losses, 4 goals for and 8 against. Neither club has strung together the kind of run that settles a season's early narrative, and both go into matchweek 4 needing more of what this match showed from United and less of what it showed from Ipswich.