Manchester United vs Wolves Betting Pick | English Premier

English Premier

2010-11-06 - Manchester United vs Wolves

A Sports Betting Pick by Auls

Manchester United v Wolverhampton Wanderers
Football : English Premier League
Saturday 6 November 2010 - Kickoff 3pm

Manchester United

A win in the Champions League against Bursaspor essentially put United into the last 16 of the competition, but they did not come back with everything they wanted. Injuries to Nani and Darren Fletcher are not welcome in front of a huge week for the Red Devils.

United remained in 3rd place in the Premier League as each of the top 3 won last week, and are still 5 points behind Chelsea. The controversy of Nani's goal last week against Tottenham has subsided a little thanks to important Champions League action, but Sir Alex Ferguson will ensure his players are focused on picking up more points at Old Trafford. They are 4-1-0 at Old Trafford this season, scoring 13 goals and conceding 4.

The win in Turkey means United are now unbeaten in 22 competitive games, and confidence should be high as they have won 5 in a row since the disappointing draw here with West Brom. Importantly, they have kept back to back clean sheets as they look to get back to basics.

Nani and Darren Fletcher are both expected to miss this game as they look to recover in time for the Manchester Derby on Wednesday night. Michael Owen and Wayne Rooney are out while Anderson is hoping to recover from an illness. Darren Gibson should be available for selection.

Possible Manchester United Line Up: Van der Sar, Rafael, Evra, Vidic, Ferdinand, Scholes, Carrick, Park, Oberton, Berbatov and Hernandez (4-4-2)

Wolverhampton Wanderers

Mick McCarthy would have been disappointed a couple of Saturday's ago as he saw his side work ever so hard and unfortunately not pick up a surprise result at Stamford Bridge. However, a win over Manchester City after being a goal behind last weekend has surely given the players additional confidence that their performances will yield results.

The win over City did not move Wolves out of the relegation zone but they have moved into a position where they are not out of touch with the teams in 17th and above. They have picked up 9 points so far this season and they are only separated from 10th by 3 points. Wolves have struggled away from Molineaux to get results and they are 0-1-4 so far in the Premier League, scoring 3 goals and conceding 10.

Wolves had lost 5 of their 6 Premier League games before the win over City last Saturday. They have lost 5 consecutive away games in all competitions, but late goals have really hurt them in 3 of those defeats where they were in position to gain a draw. Wolves have played 7 away games in all competitions since they last gained a clean sheet on their travels.

Jody Craddock is the big injury doubt for Mick McCarthy here. He will need a late test on his fitness if he is to take part on Saturday.

Possible Wolverhampton Wanderers Line Up: Hahnemann, Foley, Ward, Berra, Stearman, Jones, Henry, Jarvis, Edwards, Fletcher and Doyle (4-5-1)

Head to Head

Manchester United beat Wolves 3-2 in the Carling Cup last week thanks to a late winner from Javier Hernandez. That was the 5th time they have beaten Wolves in the last 6 games, 4 of those coming in the last 2 seasons.

United have beaten Wolves 3 times at Old Trafford in the last year. Goals have been a problem for Wolves, and the 2 they got in the Carling Cup was the first time they had scored against United in 3 games.

Prediction

This is going to be a tougher afternoon for United than one may think on the face of it. The loss of Nani takes away a key creative component in the team and they will find it harder to break down Wolves without him.

Wolves proved they have steel in their side with their performance at Chelsea recently and showed real character in twice coming from behind before losing to United in the Carling Cup. I expect them to make things as difficult as possible for United by packing the midfield and forcing the Red Devils to try and break them down.

I am going to take a different tack on this game. I think United will win but I will pick them to win by a 1 goal margin. They have beaten Wolves 5 times in recent history, and 4 of those wins have been by the 1 goal. Without Nani, breaking down teams are that much harder for United and I feel this is going to be a close game.

The Statistics :

MAN_UTD LAST SIX HOME FORM
	DATE	RESULT		OPPOSITION
	2010-10-30	W	2-0	H v Tottenham
	2010-10-16	D	2-2	H v WBA
	2010-09-19	W	3-2	H v Liverpool
	2010-08-28	W	3-0	H v West_Ham
	2010-08-16	W	3-0	H v Newcastle
	2010-05-09	W	4-0	H v Stoke_City

WOLVES LAST SIX AWAY FORM
	DATE	RESULT		OPPOSITION
	2010-10-23	L	2-0	A v Chelsea
	2010-10-02	L	2-0	A v Wigan
	2010-09-18	L	3-1	A v Tottenham
	2010-09-11	L	2-1	A v Fulham
	2010-08-21	D	1-1	A v Everton
	2010-05-01	L	3-1	A v Portsmouth