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Newcastle United and Wolves played out a surprisingly entertaining 1-1 draw at St James’ Park, though both sides will be disappointed to have only claimed a point.

The hosts started the brighter of the two, and thought they had taken the lead when Allan Saint-Maximin danced through the visitors’ backline to tap home after Joe Willock’s initial shot had been blocked.

But the Frenchman was stood in an offside position when Willock touched the ball, chalking his effort off. That setback didn’t rock Newcastle and they did end up taking the lead seven minutes into the second half, Jamaal Lascelles meeting Ryan Fraser’s cross to head the ball beyond Rui Patricio in Wolves’ goal.

The Magpies’ hopes of picking up all three points effectively disappeared down the tunnel with Saint-Maximin, after the winger was forced to limp from the field – leaving Newcastle devoid of the star quality needed to see out the game.

Wolves smelt blood at this point, and they restored parity on 73 minutes thanks to a wonderful team move, capped by Ruben Neves heading in Pedro Neto’s cross.

Neither team was content to settle for a point, and both went for the jugular in an entertaining finish to the game. Joelinton, low on confidence and seemingly unable to buy a goal, had a great opportunity to end his drought late on, and when his effort flew past Patricio’s left hand, it looked for all the world that his effort would ripple the net.

Cue Moroccan defender Romain Saiss stepping into the path of the ball, ricocheting the ball away off his back.

Wolves came within millimetres of snatching the win at the death, as the dangerous Neto picked out young striker Fabio Silva in the box. The Portuguese couldn’t beat Martin Dubravka though, recalled in place of Karl Darlow, as the Slovak stopper palmed his point-blank header round the post.

A point is a decent result for both sides, and supporters of each club can perhaps take comfort from the more expansive brand of football played on the night.

You’d be hard pushed to describe the majority of Manchester United’s transfer business in recent years as anything other than underwhelming.

Granted there’s been the odd gem – calm down Bruno Fernandes fan boys, we know – but some of the other acquisitions have failed to live up to their (usually) astronomical price tags.

One player who up until the last year or so would certainly have been mentioned in such a conversation is Fred.

The Brazilian struggled in his first season at Old Trafford following his £47m arrival from Shakhtar Donetsk, but having been given time to settle he’s beginning to prove himself to be a real asset in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side and their bid to re-emerge as one of the powerhouses of English football.

While Fred’s partnership with Scott McTominay at the base of the United midfield has flourished this season in particular, the Red Devils’ clash with Real Sociedad in the second leg of their Europa League last 32 tie showed a whole different side to the midfielder.

With Solskjaer’s men 4-0 up from the opening leg, the second half of the tie at Old Trafford was essentially a kick about.

Once the first 20 minutes had been safely navigated and there was evidently no chance of a sensational turnaround, United began to play with a little more freedom, with Aaron Wan-Bissaka even taking the opportunity to hone his forward play – with differing results.

With no need for defensive cover, Fred opened up the taps and took it upon himself to make a pretty drab affair interesting – and he didn’t do a bad job of it at all.

The Brazilian carried the threat to Real Sociedad in the first half, picking up the ball from deep and driving at the visitors with intent and purpose. With Nemanja Matic sitting in the midfield, Fred was given the chance to roam – and roam he did.

The midfield man was everywhere throughout the first half – even popping up in the Sociedad box as the most advanced United player on the pitch at one point – and he remained positive whenever he had the ball at his feet too, looking to play through the lines and launch attacks.

Not to be denied his customary cynical challenge of the game, the 27-year-old was booked midway through the first half for what we’ll call a ‘professional foul’ for the purpose of wanting to be nice to him, but it didn’t take the shine off what was a very positive first-half performance before he was withdrawn at half time with the huge clash with Chelsea at the weekend in mind.

Solskjaer has been criticised at times for his negative approach to crunch clashes, with 0-0 draws picked up in the Premier League against Chelsea, Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool already this season.

Fred’s performance in the clash with Sociedad was a reminder of just how effective he can be when afforded the chance to play in a more advanced role, and it could be something Solskjaer looks to utilise in big games in the future without deviating from his preferred midfield base of McTominay and the Brazilian.