This Boxing Day match between two of the Premier League’s most underachieving teams this season promises some degree of drama, no matter what happens.
By Ian King
Two new Portuguese managers getting their feet under the desk
Manchester United continue to play as though the very notion of form is close to an alien concept to them. They followed up their best performance of the season at Manchester City with an utterly chaotic defeat to Spurs in the EFL Cup and a home loss against Bournemouth about which the best that can probably be said is that it justified the gap between them in the league at the moment. Wolves replaced Gary O’Neil with Vítor Pereira following their dismal start to the season and the effect was immediate, with a 3-0 win at Leicester after he’d been in post for just three days.
A long history lesson
There is, of course, a lot. When Newton Heath first played Wolverhampton Wanderers in October 1892 they beat them 10-1. There’s little prospect of that happening this time around. When the two teams last met at Molineux on New Year’s Day, United won 4-3 with a Kobbie Mainoo goal seven minutes into stoppage-time after Pedro Neto had equalised for Wolves two minutes earlier. Wolves last win against Manchester United came in January 2022, and that had been their first at Old Trafford since 1980. Their last wins against them at Molineux came within a couple of weeks of each other in 2019, one in the League and the other in the FA Cup.
Key players
Manchester United’s key weakness this season has been a failure to defend set-pieces, and as such the two key players for Wolves are probably their set-piece takers, Pablo Sarabia and Matheus Cunha.
Amad Diallo has been the one bright spot on the pitch for United in recent weeks, but United should be careful to overburden a young player with too much expectation.
Team News
Two of the four players that Pereira brought in to the Wolves team, Gonçalo Guedes and Rodrigo Gomes, scored in his first match against Leicester and will likely start again. Indeed, having made his changes for his first match, the only question mark hangs over Mario Lemina, who missed the Leicester game but should be fit for this one.
Matthijs de Ligt may return for United after missing the Bournemouth match with illness, but longer-term injuries – Luke Shaw, Mason Mount and Victor Lindelof – remain their bigger issue. There has been no indication that Marcus Rashford will return to the matchday squad.
Prediction
There are two key questions upon which the result of this match ultimately depends. Firstly, which Manchester United team turn up? The one that beat Manchester City, or the one that lost to Bournemouth? Because the only thing that Manchester United have consistently been this season has been inconsistent. And secondly, how much new manager bounce can Vítor Pereira sustain at Wolves? If his start was anything to go by, it could be another long evening for Rúben Amorim. But with Manchester United, who knows? The worst defence versus this version of them? Let’s stay in the Christmas spirit and go for the 3-3 draw.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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