Wolves’ Molineux magic aiming to strike for the third time as it welcomes Manchester United

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men make the trip to the Midlands hoping to erase the scars of their recent outings at Molineux.

In the space of a week, Man United’s campaign was essentially ended at the stadium they travel to this weekend. Knocked out of the FA Cup, before top four aspirations came shuddering to a halt, Wolves were the catalyst to the Red Devils downfall.

The Wanderers mastered the formula to play against a pragmatic Manchester United team, sitting back before exploding on the counter. Winning 2-1 in both games, it is fair to say Nuno Esprito Santo was the thorn in Solskjaer’s promising end of season hopes.

However, with United buoyant on the back of their 4-0 victory against Chelsea, supporters are in optimistic mood for good reason.

Team news

Wolves are set to have a full bill of health at their disposal for the crunch clash, with no new niggles hampering the side.

For the visitors, defensive duo Eric Bailly and Timothy Fosu-Mensah are out with respective knee injuries. Alexis Sanchez is expected to return to the matchday squad after a late return to pre-season preparations.

Despite winning the last two meetings, Wolverhampton boss Nuno Esprito Santo knows the magnitude of task his side face on Monday:

Manchester United is always a big, big challenge for us, a fantastic team. Ole’s doing a good job, they have good players, it is going to be tough.

But knowing (we are) at Molineux we are going to play and want to compete as good as we can. We are always trying to improve and against a fantastic team which is going to challenge us.”

Ole Gunnar Solskjer said:

“We’ve had a good pre-season, fitness is better, we’ve got a young team that will give us energy. Toward end of last season we were mentally tired (but) now mentally fresh.

I’m looking forward to the first hurdle, the resilience robustness, bouncing back when the going gets tough and I’m sure it will be on Monday.

Wolves will give us a hard challenge, just as much a mental test, we’re in a good place at the moment and when you hit the first hurdle and obstacle you want to see the leaders, anyone can play well when you’re winning 3-0 or 4-0.”

Head-to-head

In the 101 meetings between the pair, the Reds edge Wolves in their head-to-head record. The Mancunians have been victors 48 times, drawing 17 of them and tasting defeat 36 times.

Expected line-ups

Wolves (5-3-2) –  Patricio; Doherty Bennett, Coady, Boly, Jonny; Neves, Dendoncker, Moutinho; Jota, Jimenez.

Manchester United (4-2-3-1) –  De Gea; Wan-Bissaka, Lindelof, Maguire, Shaw; McTominay, Pogba; Pereira Lingard, Rashford.