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Manchester United v Wolves Premiership Prediction
Saturday, 10 December 2011
Barclays Premier League
Manchester United v Wolves, 15:00
Author: Thomas Rooney 08/12/2011
Manchester United will be looking to put their Champions League misery behind them this weekend when they host Wolverhampton Wanderers at Old Trafford.
Sir Alex Ferguson's men suffered an unprecedented defeat to FC Basel on Wednesday evening in Europe, meaning they have failed to qualify for the knock-out stages of the Champions League.
Now, a victory over Wolves won’t exactly make up for this – it might take United some time to recover from the shock of not progressing from a group containing Basel, Benfica and Otelul Galati – but they must get back to winning ways straight away.
They will be pleased that they have a game straight after the defeat in Switzerland, but at the same time they are under plenty of pressure to get the three points.
If they fail to win this weekend, not only will Manchester City have the chance to extend their lead at the top of the Premier League on Monday evening, but the dreaded ‘crisis’ word will be mentioned in the same breath as the Red Devils.
United need to make sure they get the job done against Wolves. Their most common score line of late has been a 1-0 win and although this would make for a tense afternoon at Old Trafford, it would be the victory they need to start the process of moving on from European disappointment.
As for Wolves, they will be wary of facing a wounded United side. However, they will be boosted by the victory over Sunderland and the weekend and keen to take the game to the hosts on Saturday afternoon.
In terms of how fragile the Premier League Champions’ confidence is at the moment, it is arguably a good time to play United, so Wolves will go into this game looking to make sure the hosts are feeling the pressure.
Looking back at this fixture from previous years though, it is fair to say that United have come out on top more often than not. In fact, they have won their last five home league games against Wolves.
Mick McCarthy’s men do have recent victories against Manchester United to take heart from – including the last time the two teams met at Molinuex in February – but it has been a different story at Old Trafford.
Wolves’ recent away form isn’t too much to shout about either. They have lost their last five Premier League games away from home, scoring just three goals in the process.
So, even though United will be down hearted after events of midweek and even though they haven’t been at their best for a few weeks now, they will have more than enough to record victory against Wolves on Saturday afternoon.
Football betting tip: Manchester United on the Asian Handicap -1.5, -2 @ 2.025 with Bet365 - (£200 extra on your deposit)
Correct score prediction: Manchester United 3:0 Wolves @ 8.8 with Betfair
Watch our Football Video Podcast on the Manchester United v Wolves match by Thomas Rooney and Pete South including their predictions.