Wolverhampton Wanderers and Manchester United will battle it out at Molineux on Saturday evening for a place in the FA Cup semi-finals.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s men won a tricky away tie at Bristol City 1-0 to reach this stage, with Wolves on a run of just one defeat in 11 games across all competitions.
Central to that run has been the form of striker Raul Jimenez, with the Mexican target man bagging nine goals in his last 15 outings, providing another two assists for his teammates.
Man Utd have had to navigate a very tough route through this season’s FA Cup so far, with away wins at Arsenal and Chelsea coming after a 2-0 third-round win over Reading at Old Trafford back in January.
Much has been made of their resurgence under caretaker manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and, although the Red Devils lost their first domestic game under the Norwegian against Arsenal last week, they are still gunning for top four, through to the Champions League quarter-finals and will have their eyes firmly set on earning a Wembley appearance in this weekend’s clash.
Indeed, the task awaiting Wolves is to overcome a side which has won 14 of their last 18 games, scoring 39 goals along the way – the Midlands club will take solace in the fact that they have lost just three of their nine outings against the so-called ‘big six’ this season.
Read on for Wolves v Man Utd team news, predicted XIs, stats and TV channel info.
When is Wolves vs Man Utd?
Competition: FA Cup
Venue: Molineux
Date: Saturday, 16 March
Kick-off: 7.55 pm GMT
Where can I watch live?
UK residents can watch Wolves vs Man Utd on BBC One and BBC One HD, channels 101 and 115 respectively on Sky and 101 for Virgin Media users.
Wolves’ ‘big six’ record should spark fear in Man Utd…
While fellow newly-promoted sides Fulham and Cardiff have floundered against the big guns this season, Wolves have set a real example to the rest of the Premier League on just how to get results against the cream of the crop.
Espirito Santo has inspired his side to a run of just three defeats in 10 games against the ‘big six’ so far this season, masterminding home victories over Liverpool – in the FA Cup – and Chelsea, as well as an impressive away at over Spurs at Wembley.
Furthermore, Wolves have also managed to pick up draws against Man Utd, Man City, Arsenal and, most recently, Chelsea. United’s recent form – aside from the Arsenal game – arguably makes them one of the toughest opponents they’ll face this season, but the Wolves fans generate a fantastic atmosphere at Molineux and Solskjaer will know he needs a perfect performance from his side to progress to Wembley.
…but Solskjaer enjoys using the FA Cup to prove doubters wrong
There may be an intense amount of clamour for Solskjaer to be given the United job permanently now, but it wasn’t so long ago that some were accusing him of being a flat-track bully and getting lucky.
Heading into the Norwegian’s eighth game in charge – an FA Cup tie away at Arsenal – Solskjaer had won all of his previous seven games, including a 1-0 victory away at Tottenham Hotspur. That win, though, was thanks largely to the goalkeeping heroics of David de Gea; cue the ‘lucky’ accusations.
So, how did Solskjaer and his rejuvenated squad respond to their critics? They headed to the Emirates and dismantled Arsenal 3-1 with a truly breathtaking show of counter-attacking fluidity in an FA Cup win.
Solskjaer’s first defeat in the Old Trafford dugout came in United’s 2-0 home defeat to PSG in their Champions League round-of-16 first leg. Once again, the pitchforks were out with people speculating whether he had finally hit his ceiling. But once again, the baby-faced assassin responded, this time by going to Stamford Bridge and dominating Chelsea, sealing passage to the FA Cup quarter-finals with a 2-0 victory.
Now that United have finally lost a domestic game – a 2-0 defeat to Arsenal last week – you can bet Ole will once again look to the FA Cup to put him back at the wheel.
Head-to-head
Saturday’s game will be the 100th time Wolves and Man Utd have faced off, with the historical record between the two closer than you might think.
Wolves have managed 34 wins over the Red Devils over the years, holding their illustrious opponents to another 17 draws. Their recent record doesn’t make for great reading though, with just two wins in their last 17 meetings, dating back to 1981.
Wolves wins: 34 Draws: 17 Man Utd wins: 48
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Team news
Nuno Espirito Santo is blessed with a squad clear of injuries, while Ryan Bennett’s impending suspension only applies to the Premier League, meaning the Portuguese will have a full compliment to choose from.
Ashley Young will be unavailable for Man Utd due to suspension, while fellow full-backs Antonio Valencia and Matteo Darmian are injured. This makes Diogo Dalot the favourite to step in at right-back, while Phil Jones is a doubt having been suffering from illness since early February.
Alexis Sanchez is unavailable through an injury he suffered in the recent victory over Southampton at Old Trafford, and is not expected back until the end of April. Meanwhile Mason Greenwood, who made his Premier League debut at Arsenal last week, is a doubt with illness.
Juan Mata, Ander Herrera and Jesse Lingard have all been back in training and could make a return.
Wolves predicted XI: Patricio; Doherty, Saiss, Coady, Boly, Otto; Dendoncker, Neves, Moutinho; Jiminez, Jota.
Man Utd Predicted XI: De Gea; Dalot, Smalling, Lindelof, Shaw; Pogba, Matic, Fred; Rashford, Lukaku, Martial.
Squawka prediction
Despite falling to a 2-0 defeat to Arsenal last week, Man Utd still performed well in London and only a mixture of heroic goalkeeping from Bernd Leno and some wasteful finishing denied them taking at least a point from the Emirates.
That has been one of the few marks on Solskjaer’s copybook so far and although Wolves present a very tough proposition indeed, the Norwegian has his eyes firmly set on some silverware.
We’re backing him to deliver once again. Wolves 1-3 Man Utd.
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