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Manchester United are in desperate need of a response when they travel to struggling Wolves on Boxing Day, live on talk SPORT. Ruben Amorim will need to bounce back from his side's humbling 3-0 defeat to Bournemouth that continued his mixed start to life as boss. The Portuguese claimed the biggest victory of his short tenure with his dramatic 2-1 comeback at the Etihad in the Manchester derby. He has since overseen two defeats in a week that saw United crash out of the Carabao Cup before losing at home to the Cherries. Their latest result has meant the Red Devils will spend Christmas Day in the bottom half of the table for the first time since 1989. A tough test at Wolves awaits and they will be buoyed by their win over Leicester in Vitor Pereira’s first game since replacing Gary O’Neil. Marcus Rashford may be feeling a sense of deja vu from the last trip to Molineux during the festive period under a new manager. Ironically on New Year's Eve 2022, Rashford was benched by Erik ten Hag for a win at Wolves for 'internal disciplinary' reasons. Rashford himself revealed he was punished after sleeping in and arriving late to a team meeting - having turned from villain to hero by scoring the winner as a substitute. The 27-year-old may hope a similar post-Christmas opportunity arrives against Wolves again after being frozen out by Amorim. The forward has been left out of the Red Devils’ squad for three successive games while announcing he’s ready to leave the club. Following back-to-back losses in his absence, Amorim was asked whether Rashford could return here and said: “It depends, we will see. ” The hosts can welcome back Rayan Ait-Nouri from suspension, while ex-captain Mario Lemina is also expected to recover from a knock. Pablo Sarabia remains a doubt with a calf issue, while Yerson Mosquera and Boubacar Traore are still in the treatment room. The visitors will hope to welcome back Matthijs de Ligt, who has missed the last two fixtures with a bout of illness. However, Victor Lindelof is unlikely to feature due to injury, with Mason Mount and Luke Shaw both long-term absentees. Rashford remains fit and available for selection but it is yet to be confirmed whether he will make his return here. Reacting to the result against Bournemouth, Micky Gray told talk SPORT: "Manchester United's defending has been awful today. "I'm looking for an improvement under Ruben Amorim over the last couple of games. I'm yet to see it. "They've all been really poor. I can't pick out a Manchester United player who has really impressed me today. They've been really scrappy in possession, and it's all that Bournemouth deserve. "I think Ruben Amorim has got a heck of a job on his hands here, not just in January, but the summer after that, getting players out and bringing players in. ” talk SPORT will have EXCLUSIVE live coverage of the game on Boxing Day, with kick-off scheduled for 5: 30pm. Commentary will be provided by Joe Shennan and former Chelsea defender Scott Minto. To tune in to talk SPORT or talk SPORT 2 through the website, click HERE for the live stream. You can also listen via the talk SPORT app, on DAB digital radio, through your smart speaker and on 1089 or 1053 AM. talk SPORT. com will also keep you up to date on the action in our dedicated live blog here. And as well as this, all of the other Boxing Day fixtures will be live across our network this week. © 2024 talk SPORT Limited
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