Manchester United vs Wolverhampton Wanderers. Premier League.
Old TraffordAttendance73,045.
Manchester United midfielder Bruno Fernandes will return from suspension; Wolves boss Bruno Lage is still to learn who he will have available after coronavirus; watch Man Utd vs Wolves live on Monday Night Football on Sky Sports Premier League from 4.30pm; kick-off 5.30pm.
Monday 3 January 2022 17:15, UK
Team news, stats and prediction ahead of Man Utd vs Wolves in the Premier League on January 3; kick-off 5.30pm.
Manchester United midfielder Bruno Fernandes will return from suspension against Wolves to Old Trafford on Monday.
The Portuguese missed Thursday's 3-1 win against Burnley after collecting his fifth booking of the season at Newcastle earlier in the week.
Ralf Rangnick hopes to have Victor Lindelof back after testing positive for Covid-19 and Raphael Varane looks set to start instead of Eric Bailly, who is soon off to the Africa Cup of Nations and picked up a knock. Paul Pogba remains out with a thigh injury.
Wolves boss Bruno Lage is still to learn who he will have available after coronavirus.
Wolves' game at Arsenal on Tuesday was called off after an outbreak within the squad and he will use the weekend to assess them.
Jonny (knee), Pedro Neto (knee), Hwang Hee-Chan (hamstring), Yerson Mosquera (hamstring) and Willy Boly (calf) are definitely out while Rayan Ait-Nouri has been battling a groin problem.
Man Utd vs Wolves is live on Sky Sports Premier League as part of Monday Night Football from 4.30pm; kick-off 5.30pm. Sky Sports customers can watch in-game clips in the live match blog on the Sky Sports website and app. Highlights will also be published on the Sky Sports digital platforms and the Sky Sports Football YouTube channel shortly after the final whistle.
Wolves have put together an incredible run of results from a scoreline perspective. None of their last seven Premier League games have featured more than one goal. Take a look: 1-0, 0-0, 0-0, 0-1, 0-1, 1-0 and 0-0.
They will be heading to Old Trafford with that same defensive mentality with the aim of nicking the game. Defensive levels have improved at Manchester United too since the arrival of Ralf Rangnick, conceding just two goals in his tenure. That points to this encounter being one where chances will be hard to come by and I'm happy to rate the 12/5 with Sky Bet for the game to have under 1.5 goals as a decent wager.
For those not particularly interested in backing a low-scoring affair - I can see your point - then perhaps investing in the chances of Luke Shaw having a shot on goal at 11/8 with Sky Bet is more appealing. Rangnick's style allows the full-backs to fly forward, as shown by the seven shots being fired at goal by them since the new manager came in. Shaw was responsible for two of those in the win over Burnley. The markets haven't really reacted to that and he's overpriced at the advertised odds.
SCORE PREDICTION: 0-0
BETTING ANGLE: Luke Shaw to have one or more shots (11/8 with Sky Bet)
● Manchester United have won their last three Premier League games against Wolves, last having a longer winning run against them in league competition between 1964 and 1968 (5 games).
● Wolves are winless in their last 10 away league games against Man Utd (D3 L7) since a 1-0 win in February 1980. Wolves have failed to score on seven occasions in that run, netting just three goals in total.
● Wolves haven't scored first in any of their last 13 Premier League games against Man Utd, since beating them 1-0 at Molineux in January 2004.
● Manchester United have a higher win rate in Premier League games in January than any other side in the history of the competition (65.5% - won 74 of 113 games). Meanwhile, Wolves' lowest win rate in a specific month in the competition is in January (17.2% - won five of 29 games).
● Manchester United have the highest win rate (64.7%) of all sides in Premier League games played on Mondays (won 44 of 68 games). The Red Devils have lost just one of their last 17 such games (W8 D8), going down 3-0 at home to Spurs in August 2018.
