Manchester United host rock bottom Wolverhampton Wanderers on Tuesday, with Ruben Amorim looking for consistency amid injuries and AFCON departures and Wolves coach Rob Edwards looking for a hint of positivity what’s already become a record-breaking start to the season.
Here’s everything you need to know about the match:
How to watch
The match will be broadcast on Sky Sports in the UK, NBC Sports in the U.S., JioHotstar in India and Stan Sport in Australia. You can also follow ESPN’s live updates.
Key Details
Kick-off time: Tuesday, Dec 30 at 8.15 p.m. GMT (3.15 p.m. ET; 1:45 a.m. IST and 6.15 a.m. AEST, Wednesday)
Venue: Old Trafford, Manchester
Referee: Thomas Bramall
VAR: John Brooks
Injury and Team News
Manchester United
Amad, D/M, OUT – AFCON
Noussair Mazraoui, D, OUT – AFCON
Bryan Mbeumo, F, OUT – AFCON
Bruno Fernandes, M, OUT – hamstring
Kobbie Mainoo, M, OUT – calf
Harry Maguire, D, DOUBT – knock
Matthijs de Ligt, D, DOUBT – knock
Wolverhampton Wanderers
André, M, OUT – Suspension
Emmanuel Agbadou, D, OUT – AFCON
Tawanda Chirewa, F, OUT – AFCON
Daniel Bentley, GK, OUT – ankle
Jean-Ricner Bellegarde, M, OUT – hamstring
Marshall Munetsi, M/F, OUT – calf
Rodrigo Gomes, D, OUT – calf
Toti Gomes, D, DOUBT – hamstring
Talking Points
Is the 4-2-3-1/4-3-3 here to stay?
In September, Ruben Amorim had said that “not even the Pope” could get him to change his preferred 3-4-2-1/3-4-3 formation but it appears that a combination of a squad being tested by key departures to AFCON and injuries has more persuasive power.
On Boxing Day, Amorim rolled out a 4-2-3-1 with Diogo Dalot at right back, Luke Shaw at centre-back, Manuel Ugarte and Casemiro in defensive midfield and Mason Mount in attacking midfield and the whole team looked much the better for it as the formation seemed to play to the strengths of the available players.
A revelation, and goalscorer, on the night was Patrick Dorgu, who played on the right wing and had a ball of a time. “It’s the same [as wing-back], just you come inside to your stronger foot, so sometimes it’s even easier to attack and connect with the team-mates, so I find it really easy,” he said after the match.
As the match wore on, Amorim reverted to his stock 3-4-2-1 late on, and that (plus the substitution of Casemiro) almost immediately switched the momentum of the match towards Newcastle United as United ceded ground and retreated into a shell. With the conditions that led to the switch in system still prevailing, will we see Amorim stick to this new 4-2-3-1?
P.S. Mason Mount was hooked at half-time after “he felt something,” but it’s likely that he lines up on Tuesday night vs Wolves. Will it be as a lone #10?
United’s centre-forward conundrum
Look at the xG table of Manchester United players and you’ll immediately identify an issue. The two senior centre forwards in the squad, Benjamin Sesko and Joshua Zirkzee, are sixth (2.6) and seventh (1.8) respectively. If you look at the xGOT (expected goals on target), they are fourth (2.8) and eighth (1.3). In actual goals, they are joint-fifth (2) and joint-seventh (1). For a manager whose greatest successes at Sporting came with an all-dominant centre-forward in Viktor Gyökeres (whose struggles outside that system are now a headache for Arsenal), having two such blunt options up top is proving to be an issue.
There are, of course, mitigating factors for the two beleaguered forwards. Sesko is new to the league and hasn’t been able to get a run of games under his belt due to injury issues. Zirkzee was rather inexplicably ignored for a large part of the season early on and is now struggling to find any rhythm to his game. Amorim is now attempting to give as many minutes to both as possible with early substitutions and the like, but solving this might take a little more time.
Will Edwards switch up tactics?
Earlier this month, when United rolled into the Molyneux, Rob Edwards opted to press them high with a like-for-like 3-4-3 and was hopelessly outgunned. United’s midfield duo of Casemiro and Bruno Fernandes utterly dominated the game — save for a few minutes before half time when Wolves grabbed an equaliser. While Bruno’s absence means Amorim has now gone with a three-man midfield, it would still be playing into Amorim’s hands if Wolves went in with their half-hearted high press early on as it would solve a major issue for Amorim — ball progression in the face of a low block.
Considering Edwards has lost all seven of the matches he’s been in charge of and considering Wolves are on a club record 11-game losing streak, it might be wise for Edwards to switch tactics up a bit and make it harder for United to play through a side that’s conceded 39 goals in 18 matches.
Of course, none of this will be helped by them missing a key midfielder to suspension AGAIN against United- – this time it’s André who’ll have to sit out.
Man United need to stop sitting back in the second half
This season, invariably, United have started matches like a house on fire and then gone on to lose intensity and zip as the match wears on. Amorim’s substitutions haven’t helped (why did he take of Casemiro that early against Newcastle United, for instance?) but there’s something fundamental at play here — United are particularly susceptible in the twenty-odd minutes right at the start of the second half, and the subs rarely help the case later on.
Against Wolves in the reverse fixture, they didn’t sit back (perhaps as a factor of going into the halftime break at 1-1) and that paid immediate dividends as United seized the game by the scruff of its neck, now allowing Wolves to build any sort of momentum. Against the same opposition at home, they must surely go for a repeat performance.
The stats that no Wolves fans want to read
Man United have beaten Wolves in eight of their last 11 Prem matches (L3)
This is just the second time Wolves are facing an opponent twice in the same month in the Prem era. The first time it happened, they lost both to Arsenal in February 2022
Wolves have lost 25 Premier League games in 2025. They are now one defeat away from equalling a record they will not want to be associated with: the most losses suffered by a club in a calendar year in the competition (Ipswich Town – 26 in 1994).
Wolves have won their final league game in just one of the last six calendar years (D2 L3), beating Everton 3-0 in 2023.
And a few that might give them some hope and respite
The Newcastle game was United’s second clean sheet of the season. They are yet to keep consecutive clean sheets under Ruben Amorim.
Wolves won this exact fixture 1-0 last season, but the last time they won two (or more) consecutive away games at Old Trafford was between March 1960 and September 1961.
Man United don’t like these year-enders either. They lost their last league game in both 2023 (vs Nottingham Forest) and 2024 (vs Newcastle). The last time they lost three year-ending league games in a row was between 1980 and 1982.
