Manchester United v Wolverhampton
Carling Cup Fourth Round
Old Trafford
Tuesday, 26 October 2010

It wasn’t easy being a Manchester United fan in the last week – first Rooney and then another lead dropped after being in a winning position. At times the season seemed done and dusted; titles aren’t won in October but they can be lost. Certainly the sports betting sites would have you believe that while United are behind Chelsea, Arsenal and City still have something to prove, and given the frequent collapses in form shown by both sides in recent seasons you wouldn’t be surprised if post-Christmas it again went down to the wire between Chelsea and United.

But United can put the Premier League to rest for a few days – before the United v Tottenham clash on the weekend, there’s the small matter of defending our League Cup title with a match against Wolves.

We played Wolves last season too, in the third round. I remember the game quite well because I ended up watching it in a pub with Andy Brassell, and the standout factor was how United’s second string side were able to control the game despite going a man down early on (props to Fabio for getting that last-ditch tackle in, any other team and they would have let the player go through for a shot on goal). You can expect more of the same this week as Fergie gives his squad players valuable match experience.

Expect Kuszczak, Smalling, Bebe, Macheda, Owen and Anderson all to start, with the Da Silva twins and quite possibly Obertan and Gibson expected to feature too.

On the opposition front, Wolves manager Mick McCarthy has been quick to point out that he’s sending out a relatively strong team to play United, a reference to the unfair hounding (and fine) Wolves got when they rotated some of their players for a league game against United. First team players or not, Wolves will find it tough against a talented pack of youngsters eager to prove that they can make the grade at Manchester United.

Prediction: Manchester United to win 3-1.