Erik Ten Hag will begin his second season as Manchester United boss with a battle against Wolverhampton Wanderers on Monday at Old Trafford.
After a promising first campaign, the dutch will be looking to make his team even better and get them even closer to Manchester City and Arsenal- the two best teams in the 2022/23 season.
Ahead of the new season, Ten Hag has already brought in a couple of players to strengthen his squad in order to compete as Mason Mount, Andre Onana and Rasmus Hojlund have all been captured.
In the build-up to the season, United travelled to Norway and United States to play eight games in total, but only won four of them.
Their opponents on Monday are Wolverhampton Wanderers, who have a new manager in place. Garry O’Neill replaced Julen Lopetegui earlier on this week and surely hasn’t had enough time to prepare his team ahead of this match.
They finished their pre-season unbeaten though as they won two of their four games played.
Team News
United’s new striker Rasmus Hojlund will not make his debut against Wolves, having arrived from Atalanta with a back injury, meaning Marcus Rashford is likely to lead the line.
However, Mason Mount is set to make his bow in the midfield, having joined over the summer from Chelsea.
Between the sticks, Andre Onana will make his debut, but Tyrell Malacia, Dean Henderson and Anthony Martial are all absent with injuries, as well as youngsters Kobbie Mainoo and Amad Diallo.
Matheus Cunha is the only doubt for Wolves heading into their opener. He missed the club’s last couple of training sessions due to minor injury.
Match facts
Manchester United are unbeaten at home in the Premier League since the opening day of last season when they lost to Brighton and Hove Albion 2-1. They havewon 15 and drawn three at Old Trafford since then.
Wolves have been awful on the road as they are winless in their last eight Premier League visits, losing six and drawing the other two
Heading into the opening weekend, only Chelsea have won as many opening Premier League games as Man U (20), although the Red Devils have lost their first outing in two of their last three season.
Three of the last four occasions that United have had their first game of the season on a Monday, they have gone on to win the title ( 1907-08, 2010-11 and 2012-13).
Wolves have lost their opening league game in each of the last two seasons.
Last season, Ten Hag’s side conceded fewer home goals than any other side in the Premier League (10), while only Nottingham Forest (11) scoring fewer away from home than Wolves (12).
At Old Trafford in the past 12 games against Wolves, United have secured eight victories and drawn three of those games. The only victory for Wolves in those games came in January 2022, when Joao Moutinho scored the winner.
What was said by both managers?
Speaking on Friday ahead of the game, Ten Hag said his team was ready for the new season.
“You never can compare seasons with each other but I think we are much further than last season. But you can never compare games. Also different opponents.
“But I think we had a very good pre-season. Our fitness levels are very good. We are on really good levels. I also think our performance levels during the pre-season were on a high level. We are very confident but I also want to mention, pre-season doesn’t say anything. Pre-season is pre-season.
“It is friendly football. Although I never take a game as a friendly but it is friendly in the sense of in the league. When you are going for the points, it is a different approach for both teams. We are ready, we want to fight. We are looking forward and energetic and we go for it.”
On opening up the season with Manchester United, Wolves’ boss O’Neil said it’s going to be a big challenge.
“They’re a good side, a very good side, and I watched a fair bit of them in pre-season, but I’ve still got more to do. They’ve had some good performances and some fantastic players, and I think they will be better than they were last season from what I’ve seen, so it’s going to be a big challenge.”
