Manchester United are in desperate need of a response when they travel to struggling Wolves on Boxing Day, live on talkSPORT.
Ruben Amorim will need to bounce back from his side’s humbling 3-0 defeat to Bournemouth that continued his mixed start to life as boss.
The Portuguese claimed the biggest victory of his short tenure with his dramatic 2-1 comeback at the Etihad in the Manchester derby.
He has since overseen two defeats in a week that saw United crash out of the Carabao Cup before losing at home to the Cherries.
Their latest result has meant the Red Devils will spend Christmas Day in the bottom half of the table for the first time since 1989.
A tough test at Wolves awaits and they will be buoyed by their win over Leicester in Vitor Pereira’s first game since replacing Gary O’Neil.
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Wolves vs Man United: Rash decision
Marcus Rashford may be feeling a sense of deja vu from the last trip to Molineux during the festive period under a new manager.
Ironically on New Year’s Eve 2022, Rashford was benched by Erik ten Hag for a win at Wolves for ‘internal disciplinary’ reasons.
Rashford himself revealed he was punished after sleeping in and arriving late to a team meeting – having turned from villain to hero by scoring the winner as a substitute.
The 27-year-old may hope a similar post-Christmas opportunity arrives against Wolves again after being frozen out by Amorim.
The forward has been left out of the Red Devils’ squad for three successive games while announcing he’s ready to leave the club.
Following back-to-back losses in his absence, Amorim was asked whether Rashford could return here and said: “It depends, we will see.”
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- Manchester United have only failed to score in one of their last 30 Boxing Day league games, a 2-0 loss at Stoke City in 2015. However, they’ve also conceded at least once in each of their last 10 such matches, their longest run without a clean sheet on December 26th.
- Wolves are unbeaten in their last seven Boxing Day league games (W5 D2), having lost 11 of their 14 such games before this (W1 D2). This is only their third Boxing Day match since their return to the Premier League in 2018 (W1 D1).
- In both Premier League and English Football League history, Manchester United have won more games and scored more goals on Boxing Day than any other side (22 wins, 74 goals in the Premier League, 54 wins, 202 goals all time).
Wolves vs Man United: Team news
The hosts can welcome back Rayan Ait-Nouri from suspension, while ex-captain Mario Lemina is also expected to recover from a knock.
Pablo Sarabia remains a doubt with a calf issue, while Yerson Mosquera and Boubacar Traore are still in the treatment room.
The visitors will hope to welcome back Matthijs de Ligt, who has missed the last two fixtures with a bout of illness.
However, Victor Lindelof is unlikely to feature due to injury, with Mason Mount and Luke Shaw both long-term absentees.
Rashford remains fit and available for selection but it is yet to be confirmed whether he will make his return here.
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- Having won three of their first five Premier League home games against Man Utd (L2), Wolves are now winless in their last five, losing the last four in a row (D1).
- Manchester United have won seven of their last eight Premier League games against Wolves, with the exception being a 1-0 home defeat in January 2022.
- Wolves won 3-0 at Leicester in their first Premier League match under Vítor Pereira last time out. The last manager to win both of his first two top-flight games in charge of Wolves was Sammy Chung in August 1977.
Wolves vs Man United: What has been said?
Reacting to the result against Bournemouth, Micky Gray told talkSPORT: “Manchester United’s defending has been awful today.
“I’m looking for an improvement under Ruben Amorim over the last couple of games. I’m yet to see it.
“They’ve all been really poor. I can’t pick out a Manchester United player who has really impressed me today. They’ve been really scrappy in possession, and it’s all that Bournemouth deserve.
“I think Ruben Amorim has got a heck of a job on his hands here, not just in January, but the summer after that, getting players out and bringing players in.”
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- Manchester United have lost three of their six Premier League games under Ruben Amorim (W2 D1), with those defeats coming in their last four matches.
- Wolves have conceded a league-high 16 goals from set-piece situations in the Premier League this season (excluding penalties), while Manchester United have shipped a league-high share 41% of their goals from such situations this term (9/22).
- Matheus Cunha has been involved in nine goals in his last nine Premier League games, scoring six and assisting three. Overall he’s had a hand in 20 goals in 2024 (15 goals, 5 assists), the second most by a Wolves player in a single calendar year in the Premier League after Raúl Jiménez (24 in 2019).
- With four goals and six assists, Amad Diallo has been involved in 10 goals in his last 11 appearances for Manchester United in all competitions. Overall, only Bruno Fernandes (16) has been involved in more goals for the Red Devils this term than the 22-year-old (12 – 5 goals, 7 assists).
Wolves vs Man United: talkSPORT coverage
talkSPORT will have EXCLUSIVE live coverage of the game on Boxing Day, with kick-off scheduled for 5:30pm.
Commentary will be provided by Joe Shennan and former Chelsea defender Scott Minto.
To tune in to talkSPORT or talkSPORT 2 through the website, click HERE for the live stream.
You can also listen via the talkSPORT app, on DAB digital radio, through your smart speaker and on 1089 or 1053 AM.
talkSPORT.com will also keep you up to date on the action in our dedicated live blog here.
And as well as this, all of the other Boxing Day fixtures will be live across our network this week.