STAR PREVIEW: Wolves v Man U

The third-round of the FA Cup always has the most potential for some cracking ties and this season’s draw hasn’t disappointed, with a number of big fixtures across the weekend

Wolves’s clash with Manchester United is amongst the cream of the crop, with the game being of big consequences for both clubs. Wolves aren’t a million miles away from a Top 4 place – they’re just six points behind Chelsea – whilst they’re also in the last 32 of the Europa League to boot.

The FA Cup is probably their best chance of a trophy, and they made it to the semi-finals last season (and at one point they looked sure to make it to the final too), so Nuno and his men know the value of a Cup run with the club in such great shape.

But it’s also their 36th competitive game of a season that started way back in August, and one has to wonder what sort of line-up we can see here.

Wolves v Manchester United
FA Cup Third Round
17:31 BT Sport 1 HD / BT Sport Ultimate HD

HEAD TO HEAD RECORD*
(Maximum 10 matches, Since 2010)
AUG 2019 PREMIER LEAGUE Wolves 1-1 Manchester United
APR 2019 PREMIER LEAGUE Wolves 2-1 Manchester United
MAR 2019 FA CUP Wolves 2-1 Manchester United
SEP 2018 PREMIER LEAGUE Manchester United 1-1 Wolves
MAR 2012 PREMIER LEAGUE Wolves 0-5 Manchester United
DEC 2011 PREMIER LEAGUE Manchester United 4-1 Wolves
FEB 2011 PREMIER LEAGUE Wolves 2-1 Manchester United
NOV 2010 PREMIER LEAGUE Wolves 2-1 Manchester United
OCT 2010 PREMIER LEAGUE Manchester United 3-2 Wolves
MAR 2010 PREMIER LEAGUE Wolves 0-1 Manchester United
DEC 2009 PREMIER LEAGUE Manchester United 3-0 Wolves
SEP 2009 CARLING CUP Manchester United 1-0 Wolves
JAN 2006 FA CUP Wolves 0-3 Manchester United
JAN 2004 PREMIERSHIP Wolves 1-0 Manchester United

The Express and Star sees a likely XI of John Ruddy; Ryan Bennett, Conor Coady, Max Kilman, Matt Doherty, Ruben Neves, Romain Saiss, Reuben Vinagre; Adama Traore, Diogo Jota, and Pedro Neto; In other words, a pretty strong lineup, and much stronger than the one that went out of the EFL Cup to Aston Villa in October.

This is big for Manchester United too. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s had some highlights so far with United but a sustained cup run – and United have made it to the League Cup semi-final where they’ll face Manchester City – would do him the power of good, especially if they don’t make the Top 4 once again.

We can guess there’ll be a strong side too. United started Sergio Romero, Ashley Young, Harry Maguire, Luke Shaw, Nemanja Matic, Andreas Pereira, Mason Greenwood, Juan Mata, Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial for a League Cup semi-final against Colchester which they won 3-0, when Rashford had a hand in all three goals and Martial also scored.

It seems fair to expect a pretty high intensity game between the two sides, and Star have taken no chances, with Wolves 11/8 and Manchester United 21/10 to win in 90 minutes. It’s not a surprise to see Wolves so short given their brilliant record against the big six. Since winning promotion, Wolves have recorded wins against City, Chelsea, Tottenham, Arsenal and Manchester United in the league, whilst also knocking Liverpool out of the FA Cup last year. Only City themselves (26) and Liverpool (25) have registered more Premier League points against the established top six than Wolves (20) since August 2018.

Their record against Manchester United is also an excellent one; Since their promotion back to the top flight, they’ve played them four times in all competitions and haven’t lost; Two of their three games against United at Molineux have been 2-1 wins, including one in the quarter-final last year.

All of those matches have seen both teams score, and we’ve had a reasonable flow of goals for both sides this season – the value here could be to back goals again.

RECOMMENDED BETS (scale of 1-100 points)
BACK Both Teams To Score 4 pts at 3/4 with
BACK 1-1 Draw 1 pt at 11/2 with
BACK Wolves 2-1 Manchester United 1 pt at 15/2 with

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