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 consecutive year the Cherries have won 3-0 at Old Trafford – was one “Massive positive” considering how strong it is has served to highlight the team's shortcomings.
Wolves, on the other hand, are a 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 matches)
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 streaming |
|---|---|
|
United Kingdom |
Amazon Prime Video |
|
United States |
USA Network, Universo, fuboTV |
|
Canada |
fuboTV Canada |
Rayan Ait-Nouri is back from suspension following his red card against Ipswich Town, although the full-back is again yellow from another ban.
Mario Lemina is a doubt after missing Pereira's first game with a knock. The midfielder had been stripped of his captaincy by O'Neil. Pablo Sarabia and Boubacar Traore are not expected to return until January, with Sasa Kalajdzic out until February.
Wolves predicted formation against Man Utd (3-4-2-1): This; Doherty, Bueno, T. Gomes; Semedo, J. Gomes, Andre, Ait-Nouri; Cunha, Guedes, Larsen.
Defensive concerns remain for Amorim, with Matthijs de Ligt still missing against Bournemouth through illness. Victor Lindelof was also absent for that one, with Luke Shaw still ruled out. Further down the field, Mason Mount is out for “a few weeks” again.
Marcus Rashford has now missed three games amid his stated readiness for a “new challenge”.
Man Utd predicted formation against Wolves (3-4-2-1): Onana; Yoro, Maguire, Evans; Mazraoui, Casemiro, Mainoo, Dalot; Amad, Fernandes; Hojlund.
This game will demonstrate a few things: whether Wolves are really experiencing a new managerial bounce and whether Manchester United have the stamina to fight back from a bad defeat.
Confidence in Wolves is much higher than it was just a week ago and if there's ever a time for them to take on United, it's probably now.