Thursday sees Wolves face Manchester United with Gary O’Neil no doubt keen to rid the bad memories of the last fixture.
The last time Wolves came up against Manchester United, it was the opening game of this season, where Gary O’Neil‘s VAR troubles began.
Trailing 1-0 despite arguably being the better side – Gary Neville even admitting United were outplayed – it got worse when Wolves were denied a clear penalty in the dying moments of the game with Andre Onana taking out Sasa Kalajdzic.
Now though, United are coming to Molineux and the two sides are close rivals in terms of league position which leaves three points potentially enough for Wolves to both get their revenge and strengthen their European bid.
The good news, Wolves have already shown they have the blueprint to win…
Wolves have already shown they can beat Manchester United
In the previous meeting, it was O’Neil’s first game at the helm and yet he still watched his side run riot on United with a performance deserving of three points.
He watched his Wolves side have a whopping 23 shots with six on target while racking up 2.35 expected goals as per Fot Mob, just finishing let them down.
Wolves’ tenacity was simply too much for Erik ten Hag’s side to handle as they won 76 duels compared to United’s 46.
When the ball was won, Wolves were then rapid on the counter with direct running taking advantage of how imbalanced the United midfield was and that could work once again this Thursday.
Therefore with a similar set-up, Molineux could see a massive victory, assuming Matheus Cunha can continue his scoring touch.
Who will be the key for Wolves?
Wolves will look to hit United on the counter and with that being the aim, Cunha along with Pedro Neto will be key. Cunha in particular was immense in the previous fixture as United struggled to get anywhere near him.
Neto meanwhile was back to his best too and has gone on to have a great season.
United while not as unbalanced, still give opponents a lot of space while could be taken advantage of by Wolves’ two most dangerous players – without Hwang Hee-Chan.
This could be a tricky task for the full-backs and defensive midfielders of United, and Molineux could be in store for a very enjoyable night.