Wolves host Manchester United in their second game of the season for this Premier League clash. Manchester United will look to capitalise on their great start to the league, following their 4-0 thrashing of Chelsea. Although Wolves drew their previous game against Leicester, they’ll be more confident at home, particularly after beating United 2-1 twice last season, once in the league and once in the FA Cup. The match itself can be viewed via Sporticos, the best place to view a Premier League or Championship live stream.
Head to Head
The two sides have faced one another 84 times in their history. The results between the two sides have been fairly even, with Manchester United just about having the upper hand, recording 39 wins to Wolves’ 31. Last season, however, United were unable to beat wolves in three attempts, drawing 1-1 at home before losing twice at the Molineux.
The last match between the two teams took place in the Premier League on the 2nd of April and finished 2-1 to Wolverhampton. Although Manchester United opened the scoring through Scott McTominay’s early strike, wolves were quick to respond through Jota before half time. After the break Ashley Young, playing at right-back, earned himself two yellow cards within five minutes to leave United with ten men. Despite leading in all of the statistics, having twice as many shots as the home side, United eventually succumbed to the pressure as Chris Smalling turned in an unfortunate own goal.
Statistics
Wolves fought to obtain a scoreless draw in their opening match against Leicester. In a fairly dull game in which Leicester had 70% of possession, Wolves registered 2 shots on target, one more than their opponents. Wolves host Pyunik in a Europa League qualification match on the 15th which should be an easy game but could affect how well they play against United as their squad is likely to be tired with only three days rest.
United will be buzzing following a strong preseason and an emphatic 4-0 win over Chelsea on the opening weekend of the Premier League. Their counter-attacking style worked perfectly against Chelsea as they beat them by a wide margin, despite Chelsea having the better stats in terms of shots and possession.
Team News
United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will be without 25 year old center-back Eric Bailly who is still recovering from knee surgery.
The two clubs will both be looking for success here, although Wolves have a Europa League fixture in the midweek, this game will take priority for boss Nuno Santo. Wolves will hope to improve on last season’s very impressive 7th place League finish and taking down United will be a great boost for their fans and players. Although they didn’t lose to Manchester United last season, Wolves will still have to be cautious in this game, as last week’s result showed that United aren’t finished yet.
Solskjaer, meanwhile, has a point to prove. The United manager still has his doubters after a weak finish to last season and the fact that Wolves beat his side twice will mean he’ll be looking for revenge on Monday night. His side come off the back of a great win over Chelsea and will come into this fixture brimming with confidence. United fans will hope that they can carry on the goal rush and attacking prowess that was on display in their League start.
Our View
Both sides typically adopt a counter-attacking style of play so it will be interesting to see which side presses forwards to try to take the initiative. We predict that Wolves will be more content to sit back and wait for United to attack. It will most likely be a close game with few chances and I predict an eventual 0-1 win to United who look a lot more cohesive than last season.