When facing Wolves, Manchester United may field their strongest lineup.
This week, Lisandro Martinez participated in many training sessions and started 14 of United’s 15 Premier League games. There is no clear reason why Varane and Martinez cannot team up against Wolves, especially considering that Victor Lindelof was sick in midweek and Harry Maguire was on the bench.
Since their joint debut against Chelsea on October 22, Varane and Martinez have not started for United, but they haven’t lost either.
United gained distance on Tottenham this week when they drew at Brentford on Boxing Day. If they win tonight, they would move up to fourth place for the first time this year. In March, United was last in fourth place.
A United victory would put further pressure on Antonio Conte’s team to recapture fourth place as Spurs don’t play until Aston Villa comes to town on Sunday.
With the exception of Diogo Dalot, United might send their best team against Wolves now that Martinez is back. Erik ten Hag reminded those in attendance in the Old Trafford press conference room on Tuesday that, previous to the walk against Nottingham Forest, he had only started the offensive four of Bruno Fernandes, Antony, Marcus Rashford, and Anthony Martial once against Everton.
Three vertebrae that Ten Hag can’t yet remove from the spine are Varane, Casemiro, and Christian Eriksen. Additionally, Diogo Dalot has started training again, giving Ten Hag the chance to choose his best XI.
Wolves may be United’s first of 10 games in four weeks. United will play nine games in January if they win their League Cup quarterfinal against Charlton and beat Everton in a replay of the FA Cup third round.
The good news for United is that they have a fun stretch of games before City visits for the Manchester derby in a week. Before playing at home against Bournemouth (14th), Everton (17th), and Charlton, Wolves away is a stiffer challenge (18th in League One).
Thankfully, 362 days have passed since United and Wolves last met. In the first 32 days of 2020, they faced off against one another three times, and six of their eight combined halves were scoreless.
Wolves were deserving victors in the rematch, handing Ralf Rangnick his first loss, and United were incredibly lucky to overcome them at Molineux at the beginning of the previous campaign. The seven meetings between the teams that did not finish in stalemates since Wolves were promoted in 2018 were decided by a single goal.
