Hello, and welcome to tonight’s liveblog.
With United no longer having any chance of winning the Premier League, claiming an FA Cup triumph would be a much-needed boost, particularly given all the pressure currently on Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Both sides have gone with relatively strong starting XIs, reflecting their desire to win the game, which isn’t always the case in cup competitions.
United will probably be slight favourites at home, though they are winless in their last five games against Wolves, last prevailing against them in March 2012.
There were just two shots on target in the 90 minutes when the sides met earlier this month.
Hopefully tonight’s game will be a more entertaining, higher quality affair.
Confirmation of tonight’s teams…
🎙 Lining up for the Reds this evening...#MUFC
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) January 15, 2020
Here's how Wolves line-up for tonight's @EmiratesFACup fixture against @ManUtd. #MUNWOL
— Wolves (@Wolves) January 15, 2020
📋🐺 pic.twitter.com/K1EUUd07fe
Who do you think will progress?
Poll Results:
We’re underway…
Big chance for United!
Mata plays through James. The youngster tries to take it around Ruddy, but the second-choice goalkeeper does really well to get a hand to the ball and palm it away to safety.
It’s Wolves’ turn to threaten on the counter.
Doherty starts the move, before Neto sets up Jiménez, whose shot from the edge of the area curls just wide.
Wolves go close again!
Traore does well down the left. He crosses to Jimenez, who escapes the attentions of a couple of United defenders.
His finish is tame though, and Romero makes a comfortable save.
WOLVES 1-0 MAN UNITED (NETO 10)
GOAL DISALLOWED! MAN UNITED 0-0 WOLVES
Wolves think they’ve taken the lead, but it’s ruled out by VAR.
It starts with a poor ball by Fred. Maguire then is closed down by Jimenez, allowing Neto to produce a simple finish after the ball deflects into his path.
It’s eventually disallowed though, as the ball struck Jimenez’s hand as he was closing down Maguire.
Wolves have had the only shot on target so far in this tight game.
It’s already halfway to meeting the total shots on target for the previous game between the sides.
Moutinho’s cross causes panic in the United area.
Lindelof can only help it towards goal and Matic has to head it off the line ultimately.
Greenwood plays it to Mata, whose shot from the edge of the area forces a save from Ruddy.
Down the other end, Doherty gets on the end of Neves’ in-swinging cross after a corner is taken short. The Irish international’s header comes off the post and the linesman’s flag is raised anyway.
It looked a marginal call judging by the replay.
Traore finds space again.
He crosses for Jimenez, who can’t get the necessary power into his header to trouble Romero unduly.
Traore is causing United plenty of problems down the left.
Wolves look the better team at the moment.
They are controlling the game and have restricted United to a handful of half chances.
United have their best chance so far.
Ruddy is again equal to the task though, as he makes a good block when one-on-one with James, who was played in following a ball over the top by Fred.
HALF-TIME: MAN UNITED 0-0 WOLVES
Half-time and it remains scoreless.
Wolves had the better of the first half and will feel they deserve to be leading.
Neto put the ball in the net, though it was ruled out after the controversial new handball rule was employed owing to an incident in the build-up where an attempted Maguire clearance struck Jimenez’s hand.
Ruddy has had to make two good saves from James, who will feel he should have done better on both occasions, but overall, the Red Devils have been fairly subdued and struggled to get any real rhythm or momentum to their attack play.
The second half has begun…
United are enjoying plenty of possession since the break.
However, it’s all very laboured, with too many sideways passes and no real attacking threat.
Big chance for United!
Williams plays a clever pass to James, who escapes Doherty, before firing just wide from a difficult angle.
Another menacing counter-attack by Wolves.
It ends with Jiménez shooting just over, after a good run down the right by Neto in the build-up.
Neto gets booked for a wild lunge to take down Williams.
Those two have had a couple of moments of tension tonight.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has seen enough and is making a double change.
James and Greenwood are replaced by Rashford and Pereira.
MAN UNITED 1-0 WOLVES (MATA 67)
United take the lead.
It’s great work by Martial in the build-up.
He sprints forward and plays a nicely weighted pass to Mata, who then coolly dinks the ball over the onrushing Ruddy to put his side ahead.
3 - Juan Mata has been directly involved in three goals in his last two games for @ManUtd (one goal, two assists), as many as he was in his first 20 appearances of the 2019-20 season in all competitions before this. Breakthrough. #MUNWOL pic.twitter.com/2bU39hKvpc
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) January 15, 2020
Maguire gets booked for taking out Jiménez.
Another Wolves change sees Ruben Vinagre replace Jonny Otto.
Worrying scenes for United.
Rashford, just over 10 minutes since coming on, goes down under an innocuous challenge from Doherty and seems in considerable pain.
It looks like he’ll be okay to continue though.
Rashford isn’t going to be okay after all.
He goes down again and is ultimately replaced by Lingard.
Clever idea from Wolves.
A corner is played directly to the edge of the area to Neves, whose Scholes-esque strike goes just over.
Now it’s Wolves’ turn to feel concern about a player.
Traore has taken a knock and is subsequently replaced by Buur.
There will be four minutes of stoppage time…
2006 - Marcus Rashford is the first Manchester United player to both come on as a substitute before then being substituted himself in the same FA Cup match since Alan Smith against Liverpool in February 2006. Concern. #MUNWOL pic.twitter.com/aiuOPIJhfh
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) January 15, 2020
FULL-TIME: MAN UNITED 1-0 WOLVES
Rashford 😱
— Rio Ferdinand (@rioferdy5) January 15, 2020
Pls be fit for 4.30pm on Sunday...@ManUtd
So that’s that.
It wasn’t pretty at times, but United got the job done.
Wolves will argue they deserved to be in the lead following their first-half goal.
Yet the visitors ultimately couldn’t capitalise when they were on top.
United looked fairly solid at the back and showed good resilience, and they were rewarded on 67 minutes when Juan Mata’s well-taken goal put them ahead, after some good work by Anthony Martial.
Wolves didn’t have enough in the tank thereafter to get back in the game, ensuring another win that will boost this young team’s confidence.
The one downside from a United perspective is the injury to Rashford, who had to depart with a back injury just 10 minutes after entering the action.
The England international is now a doubt for their big clash with Liverpool on Sunday.
Right, that’s all from me.
Thanks for reading and commenting.
You can read our match report here and we’ll have more reaction to follow.
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