Manchester United will face Wolverhampton Wanderers at Old Trafford in the Premier League this evening, the second of a triple header at the Theatre of Dreams which will end with Aston Villa facing United in the Emirates FA Cup a week after this match. United have had a turbulent last few months with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer being sacked and Michael Carrick leaving the club. Ralf Rangnick has not had the start he wanted with matches against Brentford and Brighton and Hove Albion being postponed because of the coronavirus. United will need to start winning these matches to get into a better league position at this stage of the season.
United beat Burnley in their last match, scoring three goals – one of them was an own goal by Burnley. Scott McTominay scored his first goal of the season and Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 14th which was not a perfect match for United but it does not matter when three goals were scored and all three points were in the bag. United have a busy January coming up but they do have a seven day break between this Wolves match and the Emirates FA Cup third round clash with Aston Villa with Steven Gerrard returning to the Theatre of Dreams for the first time as a manager in the Premier League.
Manchester United:
De Gea;
Wan-Bissaka, Varane, Jones, Shaw;
Greenwood, Matic, McTominay, Sancho;
Cavani, Ronaldo
Substitutes:
Henderson; Dalot, Telles; Lingard, Fred, Fernandes, Van de Beek; Rashford, Elanga
Wolverhampton Wanderers:
Sa;
Kilman, Coady, Saids;
Semedo, Neves, Moutinho, Marcal;
Podence, Jimenez, Trincao
Substitutes:
Ruddy; Hoever, Ait-Nouri, Bueno; Jordao, Dendoncker, Cundle; Silva, Traore
United and Wolves have played a total of 15 matches in the history of the Premier League. United have won nine matches, drawing three with Wolves winning the remaining three matches. United have scored a total of 24 goals, winning three penalties and scoring two of them. Wolves have scored ten goals, winning no penalties. United have kept a total of seven clean sheets with Wolves keeping a total of two in these matches. United players have been shown a total of 23 yellow cards and one red cards with Wolves players shown a total of 23 yellow cards and one red card. United will need to be at the top of their game to win this one.
There have been a few players to have played for both United and Wolves. In the 1973/74 season, Jim McCalliog was sold to United, making 38 appearances and scoring seven goals for the club. Scott McGarvey was loaned to Wolves in the 1984/85 season with Darren Ferguson being sold to the club in he 1993/94 season. Paul Ince, who had previously played for United, signed for Wolves in the 2002/03 season, the same season that Denis Irwin left, making 529 appearances, scoring 33 goals. Darron Gibson was loaned to Wolves in the 2007/08 season and Cameron Borthwick-Jackson was loaned to the club during the 2016/17 season.
Written by John Walker
