GW 2: Wolves vs. Manchester United

The Premier League is back with a bang this week after a stunning matchweek one and Wolves vs. Manchester United is set to end the second matchweek of this season in style. With European football the end goal for both of these sides, you can see that they are two of the best in the league at the moment and given the form that they are both going through currently, it looks like we’re in for a thrilling match. We still don’t exactly know what to expect from these sides in terms of where they’ll finish this season, as it’s only matchweek two, but United performed better in week one and look set to improve on their previous season while Wolves look to be just as good if not better than they were last year. In the past, These sides have faced each other 10 times in the Premier League with United winning 6 of these, however; last season Wolves were the dominant side in this fixture, winning at Molineux, and drawing at Old Trafford. This is largely due to Wolves manager Nuno Espirito Santo, whos tactics last year seemed to work better against the more elite teams and we might be right to expect that to continue this season. Manchester United will undoubtedly be a challenge for them, but they’ll be hoping that they can take care of them in the same manner that they did previously.

Wolves have a lot to prove coming into this match as although they were brilliant during the entirety of last season, it takes a lot more to do it over again. They showed some promising signs in pre-season as well as in Europa League qualifiers before the season began, but in their first match of the new campaign they couldn't manage to beat Leicester away from home. Against the Foxes, they drew 0-0 in what was a very even fixture with almost nothing between the sides. The expected goal values show just how close the game was with Wolves managing 0.54 on the metric compared to Leicester’s 0.53 despite Leicester maintaining 70% possession and also taking more shots. This indicates that Wolves are sticking to their tactical gameplan of last year where they look for high quality chances over a large quantity of chances. You’d expect this to continue when they take on United on Monday as they will prefer to sit back and let the more talented team come at them before hitting hard on the break. Their strategy worked quite well against Leicester and in the end they got slightly unlucky that their strikers were not on top form for the game, as they missed a couple of chances that they should have done better with. If they manage to improve their finishing against United, it could be an entirely different story, as we’ve seen before when things have gone to plan for them.

This could leave a lot of pressure on Raul Jimenez who played well in the build up last game but didn’t make the most of some of his chances further up the field. Jimenez managed just 0.25 expected goals and assists in his game against Leicester which is far less than the 0.61 that he was averaging last year, and although this could be seen as worrying, it could just be due to how defensively organized Leicester were last match, combined with the fact that his striker partner Jota was nowhere near his best. In this game though, you’d expect Jota to improve and therefore Jimenez should get more service into the box and it could be all up to him in terms of Wolves’ goal scoring on the night. Defensive midfielder Ruben Neves could also provide some creativity for Wolves to take some of the burden of Jota to perform, and although he will be playing in a fairly deep role, he could be important in transition. Last season Neves was making 6.1 successful long balls per game as well as 0.7 key passes and part of his skill set is his ability to get his team started after winning the ball in midfield. Although he often misses out on getting assists, his long balls are crucial to getting Wolves on the front foot and initiating counter attacking opportunities that their forwards thrive on. His ability to defend will also be important as they’re playing a team who have just gone and scored 4 in their last match. Last season Neves was making an incredible 4.2 tackles and interceptions per match in the Premier League proving that he can successfully turn over the ball which will allow for more frequent counter attacks.

Manchester United have got their season off to a flying start after decimating Chelsea 4-0 in their opening fixture, and there are a lot of positives to take from the start of their season. All of their new boys performed during the Chelsea match as they were able to keep a clean sheet while Daniel James scored just seven minutes after coming off the bench. Obviously, Manchester United did have to get slightly lucky to achieve such a fantastic scoreline but they did deserve the victory, which was shown by the expected goals score of 2.36 to 1.34 highlighting that they were the better side. Expected goals also shows that their defence wasn’t quite as good as some people are saying it is, as although they did do quite well to keep a top 6 side from scoring, Chelsea had a number of chances that they could have finished and they even hit the woodwork twice. Against Wolves they’ll have to be especially careful, as they won’t be able to sit back and play on the break like they did against Chelsea. United’s 4-2-3-1 worked very well against Chelsea and although a 4-1-2-1-2 could give them more security on the break, the 4-2-3-1 allows more pressure from multiple areas of the field and you’d expect Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to continue with it this season. With the 4-2-3-1, they can look to spread the pitch, playing with natural wide players on the wings, as this will allow them to avoid the strong core that Wolves have and when attacking they can get on the outside of Wolves’ centre-backs.

This game and the style that United could play with could be perfect for Anthony Martial. Against Chelsea he played as a left-winger but in an interchanging role with Marcus Rashford meaning he would often roam centrally to play as a centre-forward. If he plays similarly against Wolves it should be successful as he can get inside the wing-back and play just wide of the centre-backs which will hopefully distract attention from Rashford. Also, Wolves like to play with a very compact shape when defending and Martial is a great dribbler and his ability to get out of tight spaces could be key. Last season he was making 1.8 successful dribbles per 90 in the Premier League and although this isn’t superb, he completed 4 dribbles against Chelsea showing that in his new role, this aspect of his game is becoming increasingly important. Another United player who should have a big game yet again, is all-action midfielder Paul Pogba. Pogba was brilliant against Chelsea, grabbing 2 assists, and his creativity from his deep-lying playmaker role will be vital when playing a side who will definitely want to sit deep. Last season he was making 1.6 key passes as well as 1.8 dribbles per 90 from central midfield, proving that he can be the player to progress his side forward and hopefully break through what is a very impressive and solid Wolves midfield. Also, although it might not be his favourite, he can play a part defensively and while he will have another more defensive midfielder behind him, he can help by breaking down Wolves’ attacks early while also putting pressure on Ruben Neves.

At the moment, Wolves are completely free from injuries after Morgan Gibbs-White was cleared, and played in the Europa League match, and they should have their full squad for this game bar any late problems. As for United, Bailly is the only senior player currently injured for them as he suffering from a long term injury that could keep him out until late December. This shouldn’t have a very big impact on Solskjaer’s team though as after the last game, Maguire and Lindelof will likely be the centre-back pairing that he looks to go forward with, and rightly so after strong performances from both of them. Although neither team is struggling too badly in terms of injuries, something to be taken into consideration is the fact that Wolves had to play a Europa League qualifier on Thursday, meaning they could be low on fitness coming into this game after only two recovery days. However, they did manage to rest most of their stars such as Jota, Jimenez, Neves and most of their best defenders and because of this, you’d think that they should be coming into this match with very strong starting eleven, just as United will.

This is a fixture that has grown in both excitement and popularity after we saw what Wolves had to offer last year, and all eyes should be on this game come Monday night. Manchester United are travelling for this one so Wolves will have the slight advantage of being the home side in this game. Last year, Wolves were much stronger when at Molineux as they managed 1.8 points per game when at home compared to 1.1 when away while they are also undefeated in their last 8 Premier League home games. Also, all of the three matches that Wolves have won against United have been when they were at home while they actually have a better record than United when at their own stadium, winning 3 of the 5 that they have played against each other there. Manchester United’s win against Chelsea might have been brilliant but at the same time it was slightly lucky and with the history that these sides have between themselves, United aren’t necessarily the favourites, despite traditionally being the better side. No matter what happens, it’s bound to be an even match and I predict a 1-1 scoreline after looking into all the factors that this game might hold.