Wolves vs Man Utd Prediction

Can Ruben Amorim’s side respond to their latest Premier League setback? We look ahead to Thursday’s clash at Molineux with our Wolves vs Manchester United prediction and preview.

Wolves vs Man Utd Stats: The Key Insights

• Manchester United were backed for victory by the Opta supercomputer, winning 49.6% of pre-match simulations.
• Man Utd have won more matches (22) and scored more goals (74) on Boxing Day than any other side in Premier League history.
• Matheus Cunha has 13 goal involvements in his last 17 starts in the Premier League at Molineux (6 goals, 7 assists).

Manchester United continue to take one step forward and one step back under Ruben Amorim as they prepare to travel to face Wolves on Thursday.

Festive cheer should be aplenty for United given they have won more matches (22) and scored more goals (74) on Boxing Day than any other side in Premier League history.

However, there were no such celebrations on Sunday as Amorim’s side capitulated to a 3-0 home defeat against high-flying Bournemouth. That drab performance followed up a chaotic 4-3 defeat to Tottenham in the EFL Cup, where United’s defensive issues were badly exposed.

Those two outings were in stark contrast to a 2-1 smash-and-grab win over fierce rivals Manchester City, however. Amad Diallo inspired a remarkable turnaround at the Etihad, though that victory seemed like a distant memory as discontent grew with the Bournemouth humiliation.

That defeat to Andoni Iraola’s side left United 13th in the league, and in the bottom half of the table at Christmas for the first time since the 1989-90 season.

Man Utd will still have the chance at Molineux to win consecutive away league matches for the first time since February (a run of three). They are also unbeaten in their last six Premier League games on Boxing Day (W4 D2) since a 2-0 loss at Stoke City in 2015.

Defensive issues remain the main problem for Amorim. Overall, United have conceded 17 Premier League goals from set-pieces (excluding penalties) in 2024 – their most in a single calendar year in the competition.

Those defensive woes will be compounded by injury-enforced absences for Matthijs de Ligt, Victor Lindelöf and Luke Shaw. Mason Mount is the other United player missing on Thursday due to a long-term thigh injury.

Marcus Rashford has been left out of the last three matchday squads, with Amorim keen to lay down his demands. The England forward may hope to be included here, though, given he has scored three Premier League goals against Wolves. All three goals have put Man Utd 1-0 in the lead (December 2020, 2022 and February 2024).

Hosts Wolves are just two points adrift of safety after hammering Leicester City 3-0 in Vitor Pereira’s first game in charge after Gary O’Neil’s dismissal. Gonçalo Guedes, Rodrigo Gomes and Matheus Cunha were all on target at the King Power Stadium on Sunday.

Cunha also has 13 goal involvements in his last 17 starts in the Premier League at Molineux (6 goals, 7 assists), though has an impending FA ban hanging over his head for alleged violent conduct after the full-time whistle against Ipswich Town.

The Brazilian forward would be a sore miss to any side, not least Pereira’s relegation-threatened team, though Guedes’ performance against Leicester suggests Wolves should have some cover up top to partner Jørgen Strand Larsen.

Rayan Aït-Nouri will also return from his one-game suspension on Boxing Day, while Mario Lemina should shake off his muscle issue to feature. The game will come too soon for Pablo Sarabia, Boubacar Traoré, Sasa Kalajdzic and Yerson Mosquera.

Wolves vs Man Utd Head-to-Head

This will be the fifth Boxing Day meeting between Wolves (W2) and Man Utd (W1) but the first since 1969, a goalless draw in the top division.

Man Utd have won seven of their last eight Premier League meetings with Wolves, losing the other in January 2022 at Old Trafford.

There was late chaos in this exact fixture last term. Man Utd led 3-0 until the 71st minute before Pedro Neto thought he had completed a comeback when levelling in the fifth minute of stoppage time. Kobbie Mainoo scored two minutes later to snatch a 4-3 win, however.

That last-gasp win means Man Utd have won each of their last four Premier League visits to Molineux, having managed victory in just two of their first six visits in the competition (D1 L3).

Wolves vs Man Utd Prediction

Manchester United were backed to win on Boxing Day as the away side triumphed in 49.6% of 10,000 pre-match simulations by the Opta supercomputer.

Wolves managed back-to-back wins under Pereira in 26.7%, while the draw was rated at 23.7% in the same data-led sims.

Opta Power Rankings

The Opta Power Rankings are a global team ranking system. They assign an ability score to over 13,000 domestic football teams. This score is on a scale between zero and 100, where zero is the worst-ranked team in the world and 100 is the best team in the world.

Ahead of kick-off on Boxing Day, here is the Opta Power Ranking for both sides.

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