Manchester United rout Ipswich Town 5-2 as Bruno Fernandes bags a hat trick at Old Trafford

Ipswich Town took the lead at Old Trafford just past the quarter hour mark of the first half, and for a while it looked like the afternoon might turn tricky for Manchester United. But the home side answered with an unstoppable Bruno Fernandes, who finished with a hat trick, and United ended up cruising to a 5-2 win in the Premier League.

The match opened with United dominating possession, but it was Ipswich who struck first. In the 28th minute, Leif Davis connected on a left footed strike from the center of the box, set up by Abdul Fatawu, making it 0-1. United needed little time to respond: in the 39th minute, Bruno Fernandes equalized after a counterattack finished off with a through ball from Matheus Cunha, curling it into the top left corner. The teams went into the break at 1-1, after the referee added two minutes of stoppage time.

The second half completely flipped the script. Just after the restart, Bryan Mbeumo rattled the crossbar, a warning sign of what was coming. In the 55th minute, an own goal by Jacob Greaves, confirmed after a VAR review, made it 2-1 in United's favor. Three minutes later came the penalty: Greaves brought down Matheus Cunha inside the box and was shown a yellow card. Bruno Fernandes made no mistake from the penalty spot in the 60th minute to make it 3-1, then struck again in the 67th minute to complete his hat trick and put United up 4-1. The fifth goal came in the 81st minute, a strike from outside the box by Bryan Mbeumo following another counterattack set up by Fernandes himself. Ipswich pulled one back in stoppage time, in the 90th minute, through Chuba Akpom, assisted by Julio Enciso, setting the final score at 5-2.

Dominance backed up by the numbers

United's superiority showed clearly in the stats: they controlled the ball, created far more chances and vastly outshot an Ipswich side that barely threatened except for a couple of isolated moments.

With 33 shots to Ipswich's 9, United built a gap that also shows up in the expected goals numbers: our post match estimate, calculated from shot locations, gives United an xG of 5.019 against 1.873 for Ipswich. Worth noting this isn't a prediction, just a read on what was generated over the 90 minutes, and in this case the final score ended up nearly matching that attacking output.

Before kickoff, our model gave Manchester United a 66% chance of winning, against a 20% chance of a draw and 14% for an away win, with expected goals of 2.34 for the home side and 0.99 for the visitors. The final score ended up blowing past that goal expectation by quite a bit, especially on United's side, who more than doubled the goals projected for their attack.

What the result means in the standings

Coming into the match, United had one win and one loss through two rounds, while Ipswich carried the same record of a win and a defeat. The two sides were separated by just a point before this meeting, which makes sense given the Premier League season is just getting underway with nearly the entire schedule still to be played. What is clear after this afternoon at Old Trafford is the effectiveness of Bruno Fernandes, who scored three of the five home goals, and an Ipswich defense that struggled to contain the play down the flanks and the counterattacks that ultimately decided the match.