Manchester United vs Wolverhampton Wanderers Preview

Wolves’ success is mainly due to the Portugese influence in the team with big names such as Rui Patricio, Joao Moutinho and Ruben Neves important members of the team so far this season. This influence is credited to their 44 year old manager, Nuno Espirito Santo, who featured in the Porto team that was managed by Mourinho himself from 2002-04. Jose has come out and said that his former player has earned the right to be called a Premier League manager due to the heroics of last season as they won the Championship with two games to spare and the have only grown as a team and evolved to suit Premier League football. Their team has been well drilled this season and have a seriously high work rate and is unlikely that Espirito Santo will change his in-form team. 

Jose Mourinho has declared that United are still without Phil Jones, Ander Herrera and Marcos Rojo and so there will be no returns for the trio this Saturday. However, the Red Devils will be forced into a few changes automatically with both Marcus Rashford and Nemanja Matic suspended for the game following their red cards against Burnley and Watford respectively. Despite impressing in the Champions League, Diogo Dalot will not feature against Wolves and will be replaced by captain, Antonio Valencia. Mourinho did say that the 19 year old will continue his progress in the Carabao Cup fixture against Frank Lampard’s Derby County, in which he is expected to shine once more in a United shirt. Jesse Lingard and the formerly mentioned, Valencia were rested against Young Boys and are likely to return to the starting lineup, as will Marouane Fellaini, who has been excellent so far this season despite being slightly liable for some last-gasp attempts at Vicarage Road last weekend. Fred had a difficult first half against Young Boys and lost the ball several times when simpler decisions could have been made by the former Shakhtar man. Given the likelihood of the Brazilian starting against Wolves, he needs to improve on his quick passing and ball retention as he will be hounded down by Neves and Moutinho in the heart of the midfield. Anthony Martial scored his first goal of the season in Switzerland and looked dangerous on that wing and fans have been calling for Jose to start him instead of Sanchez. While Alexis Sanchez has been criticised at times for his poor passing and possession this season, it might not be the time to drop the Chilean, who is desperately searching for his first goal of the season. 

Wolves have done very well so far but United look strong, powerful and full of confidence and will look to break the deadlock early and give the Old Trafford faithful a show. Raul Jimenez and Helder Costa can be a handful but United should have enough to deal with them with Smalling and Lindelof improving significantly as a pair. Pogba has a lot to prove as consistency is the key to success and his consistency is vital to United winning this game and Lukaku will aim to continue his Premier League form in front of a home crowd for the first time since playing Spurs. 

Predicted Lineup: De Gea, Valencia (c), Smalling, Lindelof, Shaw, Fellaini, Fred, Pogba, Lingard, Sanchez, Lukaku

PREDICTED SCORE: 3-0 to United