It's consecutive Sunday away trips for United's travelling contingent, with a short venture to Molineux for a 16:30 kickoff this afternoon. Avoidance of defeat would see United become standalone record holders of the longest unbeaten away run in Premier League history following equalling Arsenal's 2003-2004 record of 27 matches last weekend. After the exceptional start against Leeds at Old Trafford, it was disappointingly a draw at St Mary's that saw the record equalled after United failed to fully overcome their half time deficit. It's now 10 matches without a clean sheet in all competitions for the reds.
Solskjaer takes charge of his 100th Premier League match as United boss later on, with only City and Liverpool amassing more points since his appointment. Out of their first 100 league matches as United manager, only Ernest Mangnall has more wins than the Norwegian from the last eight to reach that milestone.
Marcus Rashford has been back working at Carrington this week, though him and Alex Telles remain sidelined. Scott McTominay is the latest to be added to the list of absentees following minor groin surgery a few days ago - as unfortunate as his absence is, hopefully it gives an opportunity for somebody like Donny van de Beek to start.
Dean Henderson returned to training this week following his struggle with Covid-19, though it’s highly unlikely he’ll be involved tomorrow; Solskjaer seemed to hint in a recent interview that David de Gea may actually maintain his number one spot having severely impressed since returning for pre-season. Jadon Sancho could likely earn his first start, whilst Raphael Varane has continued to impress himself into contention in training. Given Anthony Martial's ineffectiveness last weekend, it'd surely be right to anticipate either Mason Greenwood or the returning Edinson Cavani will start through the middle today.
It's expected that Cristiano Ronaldo will make his second debut against Newcastle after the pending international break once the deal is all completed. That's just slightly cool to say.
For Wolves, Ronaldo's compatriot Daniel Podence returned to action in midweek as his side convincingly overcame Nottingham Forest in the Carabao Cup Second Round. Meanwhile, Willy Boly and Yerson Mosquera have returned to training following respective hamstring injuries.
Although they did beat Forest in midweek, Wolves are winless in the opening two Premier League matches under new manager Bruno Lage - who was acquired from Benfica after Nuno Espirito Santo's departure. In fact, they have lost their last five league matches. They have lost each of the first two league matches by a single goal margin, felled by Jamie Vardy at the King Power on the opening Saturday and downed by a Dele Alli penalty on their homecoming last Sunday. Despite not yet scoring, Wolves' staggering total of 42 shots from the opening two gameweeks was only bettered by Liverpool's 46.
It was ultimately a safe 13th place for Wolves last campaign, which was a healthy 14 points and six places shy of their 2019/20 finish. Missing Raul Jimenez for a large portion of the season after a serious head injury, their goal difference of -16 last term was a stark contrast to the +11 of the season before.
There were only two meetings between United and Wolves last season, converse to the four encounters throughout the 2019/20 season. Closing out 2020's proceedings, it took a last minute winner from Rashford to break the deadlock and secure the win at Old Trafford. Then - to close out the season at Molineux - Anthony Elanga's first United goal and a Juan Mata penalty either side of a Nelson Semedo strike saw United take three points to complete the double. Wolves have only beaten United once in the last eight league meetings, with the reds coming out on top in half of those. Since the Midlands side were repromoted in 2018, none of our nine meetings have been decided by more than a single-goal margin.
We cannot afford to drop more early points today.
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