{"id":9715,"date":"2011-12-09T12:00:24","date_gmt":"2011-12-09T12:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/12\/man-utd-v-wolves\/"},"modified":"2011-12-09T12:00:24","modified_gmt":"2011-12-09T12:00:24","slug":"man-utd-v-wolves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/09\/man-utd-v-wolves\/","title":{"rendered":"Man Utd v Wolves"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/846954555279_pearcejonathan.jpg\" alt=\"Jonathan Pearce\" \/><span>By Jonathan Pearce<\/span><br \/><span>BBC Match of the Day commentator<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<div>\n<h2>Barclays Premier League<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Venue:<\/em> Old Trafford<\/li>\n<li><em>Date:<\/em> Saturday, 10 December<\/li>\n<li><em>Kick-off:<\/em> 1500 GMT<\/li>\n<li><em>Coverage:<\/em> Watch highlights on Match of the Day; listen on BBC Radio 5 live and local radio; text commentary on BBC Sport website and mobiles<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p><span><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/news.bbcimg.co.uk\/media\/images\/57215000\/jpg\/_57215129_134125948.jpg\" width=\"444\" height=\"261\" alt=\"Wayne Rooney\" \/> Wayne Rooney has gone eight league games without a goal, equalling his worst barren run for Manchester United<\/span> <\/p>\n<div readability=\"8\">\n<h2>Live text and stats<\/h2>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Saturday, 10 December 2011<\/p>\n<p>Premier League<\/p>\n<table summary=\"This table is for live text and stats\" caption=\"\">\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th scope=\"col\"><span>Home Team<\/span><\/th>\n<th scope=\"col\"><span>Score<\/span><\/th>\n<th scope=\"col\"><span>Away Team<\/span><\/th>\n<th scope=\"col\"><span>Time<\/span><\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>Man Utd<\/td>\n<td>v<\/td>\n<td>Wolves<\/td>\n<td>15:00<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td colspan=\"4\"><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><\/td>\n<td><\/td>\n<td>\n<\/td>\n<td><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<h2>TEAM NEWS<\/h2>\n<p>Nemanja Vidic&#8217;s season-ending knee injury could mean Phil Jones reverting to a defensive position against Wolves.<\/p>\n<p>Michael Carrick returns from suspension, while Dimitar Berbatov could recover from an ankle injury.<\/p>\n<p>Wolves midfielder Karl Henry is expected to start after serving a one-match ban.<\/p>\n<p>Central defender Jody Craddock is doubtful due to a hamstring injury, so Roger Johnson is on standby for a recall.<\/p>\n<h2>MATCH PREVIEW<\/h2>\n<p>Manchester United must prevent a major disappointment turning into a dilemma. The Champions League exit will have dampened dressing-room moral and the club&#8217;s financial forecast. But a first home league defeat against Wolves in 31 years could be catastrophic for their title hopes. It&#8217;s time for United&#8217;s senior players to stand up and be counted this weekend.<\/p>\n<p>Some might say it&#8217;s the best possible time to play United with the hangover of defeat in Basle still lingering. Mick McCarthy is too long in the tooth to believe that. He&#8217;ll fear a United backlash.<\/p>\n<div readability=\"32.5\">\n<blockquote readability=\"8\">\n<p>Wayne Rooney, an inhibited-looking player since his England sending off, needs to get among the Premier League scorers for the first time since September<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<p>Six years ago, the last time Sir Alex crashed out of the Champions League at this stage, critics were quick to write him off. He brought in Evra and Vidic, took the League Cup later that season and the title for the next three years.<\/p>\n<p>But they must hit back over their next five league games &#8211; all against teams in the bottom nine &#8211; if they are to claw back Manchester City&#8217;s lead as their great rivals enter back-to-back games against Chelsea and Arsenal.<\/p>\n<p>The injury to Vidic won&#8217;t help. They&#8217;ve only lost seven of their last 65 games when he&#8217;s played. Significantly they&#8217;re unbeaten in the paltry five league games when they&#8217;ve been able to partner him with Ferdinand.<\/p>\n<p>Wolves will need to physically press United, as they did in the surprise Molineux win in February. The return to fitness of Steven Fletcher has been crucial. He&#8217;s scored 10 in his last 15 games.<\/p>\n<p>But their away form is poor, with five defeats in a row, and their best hope will lie with United&#8217;s mood. If the defending champions are still feeling self-pity, Wolves can inflict more pain. But can you really see Sir Alex allowing any moping? He is the master at turning adversity into triumph.<\/p>\n<h2>MATCH FACTS<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Head-to-head<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Manchester United have won three of the last four league meetings between these clubs.<\/li>\n<li>Wolves have not triumphed at Old Trafford since February 1980, a run stretching back eight games across all competitions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Manchester United<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>When United were last eliminated from the Champions League in the group stage in 2005, they went unbeaten in their next 10 matches in all competitions.<\/li>\n<li>They have gone seven league matches in a row without scoring more than once for the first time within the same season in their Premier League history.<\/li>\n<li>The Red Devils have scored in each of their last 37 league matches at Old Trafford. They are three short of their club record of 40 set from 1998 to 2000.<\/li>\n<li>Wayne Rooney has failed to score in his last eight league matches &#8211; he has never gone nine league matches without a goal for Manchester United.<\/li>\n<li>Park Ji-Sung has scored three goals in the last three matches against Wolves in all competitions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Wolves<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Wolves have not won away from home in six matches since the opening day of the season, a 2-1 victory at Blackburn on 13 August.<\/li>\n<li>They have conceded in each of their last 11 league matches.<\/li>\n<li>Steven Fletcher has scored 10 goals in his last 15 Premier League games, including five in nine this season.<\/li>\n<li>Jody Craddock could start a league game for the 500th time in his career, and George Elokobi for the 100th.<\/li>\n<li>Roger Johnson is hoping to make his 400th club career start, while Matt Jarvis is on the verge of his 250th league appearance.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> By Jonathan Pearce BBC Match of the Day commentator Barclays Premier League Venue: Old Trafford Date: Saturday, 10 December Kick-off: 1500 GMT Coverage: Watch highlights on Match of the Day; listen on BBC Radio 5 live and local radio; text commentary on BBC Sport website and mobiles Wayne Rooney has gone eight league games without a goal, equalling his worst barren run for Manchester United Live text and stats \u00a0 Saturday, 10 December 2011 Premier League Home Team Score Away Team Time Man Utd v Wolves 15:00 TEAM NEWS Nemanja Vidic&#8217;s season-ending knee injury could mean Phil Jones reverting to a defensive position against Wolves. Michael Carrick returns from suspension, while Dimitar Berbatov could recover from an ankle injury. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Man Utd v Wolves - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/09\/man-utd-v-wolves\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Man Utd v Wolves - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"By Jonathan Pearce BBC Match of the Day commentator Barclays Premier League Venue: Old Trafford Date: Saturday, 10 December Kick-off: 1500 GMT Coverage: Watch highlights on Match of the Day; listen on BBC Radio 5 live and local radio; text commentary on BBC Sport website and mobiles Wayne Rooney has gone eight league games without a goal, equalling his worst barren run for Manchester United Live text and stats \u00a0 Saturday, 10 December 2011 Premier League Home Team Score Away Team Time Man Utd v Wolves 15:00 TEAM NEWS Nemanja Vidic&#039;s season-ending knee injury could mean Phil Jones reverting to a defensive position against Wolves. 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