The team news was that Wolves were unchanged for the fourth consecutive game. United were without Wayne Rooney, who wasn’t even named on the bench but Rio Ferdinand did return from injury to line-up alongside Nemanja Vidic.
The game got off to a scrappy start and stayed like that throughout the first 45 minutes. With nearly half an hour played with neither goalkeeper really having a stop to save, with United missing the presence of Wayne Rooney.
United’s best chance of the first half came from a Luis Nani free-kick, the ball took a deflection off the wall and Darron Gibson prodded the ball wide.
One of Wolves best opportunities to take the lead came through striker Kevin Doyle, who ran at the United defence. Doyle found Matt Jarvis, he pulled the ball back for David Jones but after taking a deflection off Michael Carrick the ball was safely in the hands of Edwin Van Der Sar.
Shortly after Steven Ward headed the ball straight at keeper Van Der Sar from only six yards. That was a free header for Wolves and they should have really gone ahead.
The first half was even, scrappy and there wasn’t really much to talk about. Sir Alex Ferguson needed to get the hairdryer out and basically give the players a well talk.
A change was immediately made by Sir Alex Ferguson with Gary Neville coming on for Wes Brown. It wasn’t known why but many believe Brown picked up an injury.
United started the second half with more purpose, with the fullbacks coming forward a lot more than they did in the first.
Evra looked certain to give United the lead after he had received the ball from Gibson. Evra’s shot at goal deflected off Jody Craddock and was saved by Wolves keeper Marcus Hahnemann.
Sir Alex Ferguson decided to make an attacking change so off came Gibson with Mame Birman Diouf coming on as his replacement.
With just over 15 minutes to play we saw the only goal of the game. Nani’s ball in from the right came off Christophe Berra, Paul Scholes was there to stick the ball past Hahnemann. A moment of quality ended with Scholes scoring his 100th Premier League goal.
They say that goals change games, this goal didn’t quite change the game but it did give United a bit more confidence.
That goal was followed by a complete muck up by substitute Ji-Sung Park. Diouf hadn’t been on the pitch for long but he could have bagged himself a hat-trick. His first chance came from a Neville cross in, he flung himself at the ball, which ended flying well over. His second was a shot, which he dragged wide. Diouf couldn’t really do much about the third, Valencia’s ball in bounced off his foot after it looked like the defender was going to clear the ball.
4 minutes of stoppage time was added on and Wolves missed a glorious opportunity to snatch a point. Ronald Zubar prodded ball in fell to an unmarked Sam Vokes who somehow managed to lift the ball over the bar from only eight yards out.
The game finished 1-0 to United, it has taken us to the top of the table, two points clear of Chelsea and Arsenal who sit in second and third respectively. It was never going to be easy going to Wolves but I was expecting United to play a lot better than they did even without Wayne Rooney.
Next up is a nice easy game against AC Milan.
