Manchester United travel to the West Midlands on Boxing Day looking to avoid a third successive defeat in all competitions when they face Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux.
Ruben Amorim has been presented with more questions than answers in recent weeks, with former United captain Gary Neville even suggesting that the weekend’s home defeat to Bournemouth – the second year in a row the Cherries have won 3-0 at Old Trafford – was a “massive positive” given how starkly is has served to underline the squad’s shortcomings.
Wolves, on the other hand, are one game into a new era after Gary O’Neil was replaced by Vitor Pereira earlier this month. Their 3-0 win over fellow strugglers Leicester City was a potential catalyst for improvement as we reach the halfway stage of the campaign.
Wolves vs Man Utd H2H Record (Last Five Games)
Current form (all competitions)
|
Wolves |
Man Utd |
|---|---|
|
Leicester 0-3 Wolves – 22/12/24 |
Man Utd 0-3 Bournemouth – 22/12/24 |
|
Wolves 1-2 Ipswich – 14/12/24 |
Tottenham 4-3 Man Utd – 19/12/24 |
|
West Ham 2-1 Wolves – 9/12/24 |
Man City 1-2 Man Utd – 15/12/24 |
|
Everton 4-0 Wolves – 4/12/24 |
Viktoria Plzen 1-2 Man Utd – 12/12/24 |
|
Wolves 2-4 Bournemouth – 30/11/24 |
Man Utd 2-3 Nottingham Forest – 7/12/24 |
|
Country |
TV channel/live stream |
|---|---|
|
United Kingdom |
Amazon Prime Video |
|
United States |
USA Network, Universo, fuboTV |
|
Canada |
fuboTV Canada |
Rayan Ait-Nouri is back from suspension after his red card against Ipswich Town, although the wing-back is one more yellow again from another ban.
Mario Lemina is a doubt after missing Pereira’s first game with a knock. The midfielder had been stripped of the captaincy by O’Neil. Pablo Sarabia and Boubacar Traore are not expected back until January, with Sasa Kalajdzic out until February.
Wolves predicted lineup vs Man Utd (3-4-2-1): Sa; Doherty, Bueno, T. Gomes; Semedo, J. Gomes, Andre, Ait-Nouri; Cunha, Guedes, Larsen.
There remain defensive concerns for Amorim, with Matthijs de Ligt still missing against Bournemouth with illness. Victor Lindelof was also absent for that one, with Luke Shaw still ruled out. Further up the pitch, Mason Mount is out for “several weeks” again too.
Marcus Rashford has now missed three games amid his stated readiness for a “new challenge”.
Man Utd predicted lineup vs Wolves (3-4-2-1): Onana; Yoro, Maguire, Evans; Mazraoui, Casemiro, Mainoo, Dalot; Amad, Fernandes; Hojlund.
This game stands to demonstrate a couple of things: whether Wolves are truly experiencing a new manager bounce, and if Manchester United have the resilience to fight back from a bad defeat.
Confidence at Wolves is much higher than it was even just a week ago and if there is ever a time for them to face United, it is probably now.