'I don't care about Christmas' - Amorim fully focused on getting Boxing Day win

Ruben Amorim says his only focus during the festive period is to get Manchester United back to winning ways when they face Wolves at Molineux.

Amorim has endured a mixed start to life in the Premier League and has seen his side lose their last two matches to Tottenham in the EFL Cup (4-3) and Bournemouth in the top-flight (3-0).

Sitting in the bottom half of the Premier League at Christmas for the first time ever, United are 13th, though they remain just six points off fifth place, and Amorim wants to close the gap on Thursday.

"I just want to win. I don't care about Christmas," he said. "I'm just focused on: we need to win the next match.

"That's the only thing. It's very good for the fans. We are that. We are privileged. We are privileged.

"So, we can play on Boxing Day to give some happiness to the fans, and we want so bad to win another game."

Meanwhile, Vitor Pereira earned his first match in charge of Wolves last time out, brushing Leicester City aside 3-0 to move within two points of safety.

It was a win that also snapped a four-game losing streak, and Pereira is determined to see even more improvements when they host United.

"We will improve, will be better than Sunday. OK, the result was fantastic. I'm very happy inside, but I believe that we can do it in a better way," he said.

"It was a short time to work, we will improve for sure. We'll improve our possession, our defensive organisation. I don't need a lot of time to put this team playing in the way that I want, because I know what I want, and they are open to this kind of play.

"I want to play with quality. For me, football is not only the results. For me, it must be a beautiful game."

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Wolves – Matheus Cunha

Matheus Cunha has been involved in nine goals in his last nine Premier League games, scoring six and assisting three.

Overall he has had a hand in 20 goals in 2024 (15 goals, five assists), the second most by a Wolves player in a single calendar year in the Premier League after Raul Jimenez (24 in 2019).

Manchester United – Amad Diallo

With four goals and six assists, Amad Diallo has been involved in 10 goals in his last 11 appearances for Manchester United in all competitions.

Overall, only Bruno Fernandes (16) has been involved in more goals for the Red Devils this term than the 22-year-old (12 – five goals, seven assists).

MATCH PREDICTION: MANCHESTER UNITED WIN

Manchester United have won seven of their last eight Premier League games against Wolves, with the exception being a 1-0 home defeat in January 2022.

Having won three of their first five Premier League home games against United (L2), Wolves are now winless in their last five, losing the last four in a row (D1).

In both Premier League and English Football League history, the Red Devils have won more games and scored more goals on Boxing Day than any other side (22 wins, 74 goals in the Premier League, 54 wins, 202 goals all time).

In fact, United have only failed to score in one of their last 30 Boxing Day league games, a 2-0 loss at Stoke City in 2015. However, they have also conceded at least once in each of their last 10 such matches, their longest run without a clean sheet on December 26th.

Meanwhile, Wolves won 3-0 at Leicester in their first Premier League match under Vitor Pereira last time out. The last manager to win both of his first two top-flight games in charge of Wolves was Sammy Chung in August 1977.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Wolves – 28.3%

Draw – 24.9%

Manchester United – 46.8%