Manchester United will travel to Wolverhampton Wanderers today looking to recover from a shock 0-3 defeat to AFC Bournemouth just before Christmas.
The Red Devils have played Wolves 113 times in their history, with United coming out on top 56 times.
There have been 20 draws and 37 victories for the team from the Black Country.
Here are three plotlines to tuck into alongside the turkey leftovers.
United are the most successful team on Boxing Day
Whilst United fans have not had much to shout about this season, the club has a great history that should not be forgotten.
According to The Sun, no Premier League team has ever won more games on Boxing Day.
“United have not only won the most games with a whopping 21 victories, but they’ve also scored the most goals, hitting the net 76 times on December 26th.”
Moreover, every new manager has won their first ever Boxing Day fixture since Alex Ferguson retired, with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer beating Huddersfield Town 3-1 and Erik ten Hag dispatching Aston Villa 3-2 in a supreme second half comeback last year.
Manchester United’s impressive record extends well beyond the Premier League though as they hold the English league record of 54 wins on Boxing Day.
Bruno Fernandes has never scored against Wolves
The captain made his United debut in a 0-0 stalemate versus Wolves in February 2020 after completing his January move to Old Trafford.
The Portuguese international has scored against pretty much every team he has had the chance to play against a few times but Wolves have yet to concede a goal against him.
He “has failed to score in any of his eight Premier League matches versus Wolves.”
With the exception of last season’s crazy 4-3 victory at Molineux stadium, the matches are usually low scoring affairs but it is still strange that he hasn’t found the back of the net at least once.
He will be hoping to give United fans a belated Christmas gift and do just that as they desperately need the three points.
United aiming for five in a row in the Black Country
There was a time when United struggled to get a result versus Wolves but they are now aiming for five wins on the trot at Molineux.
In fact, United have not lost a game at Wolves’ stadium since April 2019 when they were beaten 2-1 under Solskjaer.
Since that day, there have been 12 matches with Wolves only coming out on top once, beating United 1-0 at Old Trafford in January 2022.
In that time, United have won eight and drawn three of the encounters.
Whilst fans of the Old Trafford club certainly won’t demand the entertainment of last season’s rollercoaster 4-3 victory, they would snap your hand off for any sort of win to get their season back on track.
Featured image Clive Brunskill via Getty Images
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Alex Browne
Alex is a huge Manchester United fan, inspired by greats of his homeland such as George Best, Harry Gregg and Norman Whiteside. Proud owner of such niche shirts such as Kleberson, Eric Djemba-Djemba and Gary Neville. Grew up pretending to be Ruud van Nistelrooy and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in the back garden, with little success.
