Wolves vs Manchester United - Nuno expecting ‘different’ challenge from Man Utd

Posted Tuesday, April 02, 2019 by PA

Nuno Espirito Santo insists Wolves’ recent FA Cup victory against Manchester United will have no bearing when the two sides meet again in the Premier League.

Wanderers reached the FA Cup semi-finals with a 2-1 victory over United at Molineux on March 16.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team are back in the Black Country on Tuesday night but Nuno is taking nothing for granted.

“That night was special for us but this is a new challenge,” said the Wolves boss. “What we did before doesn’t mean anything. We’ve analysed it and we will try to take the good things we did and try to repeat it.

“But every game is a new challenge. That was a big moment, but we know that tomorrow is completely different. Every time we play a team like Manchester United we have to be ready to compete.

“We know how good they are, they have fantastic players, a fantastic manager, all the history – they’re a huge club – but we are ready and want to compete well at Molineux.

“Tomorrow we play against a fantastic team and we will need to be organised and focused. We face an opponent in front of us that requires maximum effort from us.

“We will be ready for it. Football moves on and the games come fast but as I have always said, it is one game at a time.”

Ryan Bennett’s return from suspension means Nuno has a full squad available against United.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is convinced Paul Pogba has a “big, big part” to play at United despite the Frenchman’s remarks about Real Madrid recently.

Pogba described Madrid as a “dream” club while on international duty and made specific reference to Los Blancos boss Zinedine Zidane, who said over the weekend he liked the midfielder “a lot”.

Solskjaer was asked about Pogba at his Monday press conference and said: “I don’t like to talk about other teams’ players but this is another challenge with international breaks. Players are available all the time.

“It’s a different environment, it’s more of a general talk and Paul is a very nice and polite man who answered a general question.

“Zidane is an icon in France, Zidane is a fantastic manager, he used to be a fantastic player – I played against him myself – and Paul has just politely answered that question.

“Paul’s happy here and he’s going to be a big, big part. I’ve always said that you’d like to build your team around him and that hasn’t changed at all.”

Both Anthony Martial and Romelu Lukaku are expected to be available to face Wolves.

Martial scored in the 2-1 win over Watford over the weekend but later limped out of the fixture while fellow forward Lukaku was an unused substitute.

Solskjaer added: “Both will be ready for tomorrow, definitely. It looks good.”