Wolverhampton Wanderers were a nightmare for Manchester United last season. Three times the teams met, three times the promoted side were superior, winning two and drawing one.
The pair meet again on Monday night at Molineux, with United vengeful and hoping to continue their positive start to the season. It will be United’s third trip in five months to the stadium, which has introduced a safe standing area.
The 2-1 FA Cup defeat there in March deflated United’s season completely. Such was the optimism following an FA Cup run in which United beat both Arsenal and Chelsea away, 14,500 season ticket holders applied for 4,500 tickets.
Although the fans turned up on a rainy Saturday night, the team did not, with goalkeeper Sergio Romero the only decent performer as he kept Wolves out until Raul Jimenez’s opener after 70 minutes and Diogo Jota’s double six minutes later.
That second away loss followed nine consecutive away wins and with it went Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s best chance of a trophy went with it.
United started better in the league game at Wolves two weeks later and Scott McTominay’s first senior goal put them ahead. United had 18 shots to Wolves’ four, but midfielder Fred gave the ball away and Diogo Jota finished.
“I’m pleased with the performance and doing it twice against such a difficult and amazing team,” said Nuno Espirito Santo.
“We played well enough and created enough chances to win the game,” said Solskjaer. Perhaps, but the wins that marked his early reign had turned into defeats – four out of five. He couldn’t stop the rot last season.
Nuno’s men, who finished one place below United in seventh last season and have ambitions to go higher this term, drew their opening game at Leicester City and have played two Europa League qualifiers, winning both 4-0 against Armenian side Pyunik.
The 48 fans who travelled to see the away leg all received a letter from captain Conor Coady after making their way independently, flights costing upwards of £600 (Dh2,700) as the club didn’t run a trip. Thousands will go to their next away game against Torino this Thursday in the play-off for the group stage, which is where Manchester United will enter the Europa League.
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The best photos from Manchester United 4-0 Chelsea
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"Those were tough games and Wolverhampton are a tough team to break down,” Solskjaer said on Friday. “They defend deep and don't give you a lot of spaces. They can play, they can counter attack, set pieces are dangerous.”
He was keen to stress that his side will prove more formidable opponents than they were last season, and enter the game following a 4-0 win over Chelsea in their opening Premier League fixture.
“We go into the game confident," Solskjaer said. "We’ve had a great week training, the mood has been good and it has been competitive. There were some players who weren’t involved who want to prove to the coaches and myself that they should be.”
Solskjaer feels that his players' increased fitness will play a part and also stressed that “towards the end of last season we were mentally tired and now we are mentally fresh".
“I’m looking forward to the first hurdle,” he said. “You want to see the reliance, the robustness that we can bounce back as a team when the going gets tough – and I’m sure it will be on Monday when Wolverhampton will give us a very hard challenge.
"We have to break them down, stop them counter attacking and can’t give them too many set pieces. It’s a mental test, but we’re in a good place at the moment. We hit an obstacle, that’s when you want the leaders to step forward. Anyone can play well towards the end of a game when you’re winning 3-0.”
The leaders, absent in previous meetings against Wolves or, in the case of Harry Maguire, newly signed, need to be prepared to stand up and be counted.
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The 15 players selected
Muzzamil Afridi, Rahman Gul, Rizwan Haider (Dezo Devils); Shahbaz Ahmed, Suneth Sampath (Glory Gladiators); Waqas Gohar, Jamshaid Butt, Shadab Ahamed (Ganga Fighters); Ali Abid, Ayaz Butt, Ghulam Farid, JD Mahesh Kumara (Hiranni Heros); Inam Faried, Mausif Khan, Ashok Kumar (Texas Titans
UAE Falcons
Carly Lewis (captain), Emily Fensome, Kelly Loy, Isabel Affley, Jessica Cronin, Jemma Eley, Jenna Guy, Kate Lewis, Megan Polley, Charlie Preston, Becki Quigley and Sophie Siffre. Deb Jones and Lucia Sdao – coach and assistant coach.
Where to buy art books in the UAE
There are a number of speciality art bookshops in the UAE.
In Dubai, The Lighthouse at Dubai Design District has a wonderfully curated selection of art and design books. Alserkal Avenue runs a pop-up shop at their A4 space, and host the art-book fair Fully Booked during Art Week in March. The Third Line, also in Alserkal Avenue, has a strong book-publishing arm and sells copies at its gallery. Kinokuniya, at Dubai Mall, has some good offerings within its broad selection, and you never know what you will find at the House of Prose in Jumeirah. Finally, all of Gulf Photo Plus’s photo books are available for sale at their show.
In Abu Dhabi, Louvre Abu Dhabi has a beautiful selection of catalogues and art books, and Magrudy’s – across the Emirates, but particularly at their NYU Abu Dhabi site – has a great selection in art, fiction and cultural theory.
In Sharjah, the Sharjah Art Museum sells catalogues and art books at its museum shop, and the Sharjah Art Foundation has a bookshop that offers reads on art, theory and cultural history.
Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha
Starring: Ajay Devgn, Tabu, Shantanu Maheshwari, Jimmy Shergill, Saiee Manjrekar
Director: Neeraj Pandey
Rating: 2.5/5
UAE tour of Zimbabwe
All matches in Bulawayo
Friday, Sept 26 – UAE won by 36 runs
Sunday, Sept 28 – Second ODI
Tuesday, Sept 30 – Third ODI
Thursday, Oct 2 – Fourth ODI
Sunday, Oct 5 – First T20I
Monday, Oct 6 – Second T20I
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
England Test squad
Joe Root (captain), Moeen Ali, James Anderson, Jonny Bairstow (wicketkeeper), Stuart Broad, Jos Buttler, Alastair Cook, Sam Curran, Keaton Jennings, Dawid Malan, Jamie Porter, Adil Rashid, Ben Stokes.
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Dubai works towards better air quality by 2021
Dubai is on a mission to record good air quality for 90 per cent of the year – up from 86 per cent annually today – by 2021.
The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.
These will be on the Palm Jumeirah, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah, Rashidiyah, Al Wasl, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.
“It will allow real-time responding for emergency cases,” said Khaldoon Al Daraji, first environment safety officer at the municipality.
“We’re in a good position except for the cases that are out of our hands, such as sandstorms.
“Sandstorms are our main concern because the UAE is just a receiver.
“The hotspots are Iran, Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, but we’re working hard with the region to reduce the cycle of sandstorm generation.”
Mr Al Daraji said monitoring as it stood covered 47 per cent of Dubai.
There are 12 fixed stations in the emirate, but Dubai also receives information from monitors belonging to other entities.
“There are 25 stations in total,” Mr Al Daraji said.
“We added new technology and equipment used for the first time for the detection of heavy metals.
“A hundred parameters can be detected but we want to expand it to make sure that the data captured can allow a baseline study in some areas to ensure they are well positioned.”
Blackpink World Tour [Born Pink] In Cinemas
Starring: Rose, Jisoo, Jennie, Lisa
Directors: Min Geun, Oh Yoon-Dong
Rating: 3/5
Allardyce's management career
Clubs (10) - Limerick (1991-1992), Perston North End (1992), Blackpool (1994-1996), Notts County (1997-1999), Bolton Wanderers (1999-2007), Newcastle United (2007-2008), Blackburn Rovers (2008-2010), West Ham United (2011-2015), Sunderland (2016), Crystal Palace (2016-2017)
Countries (1) - England (2016)
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cyl turbo
Power: 201hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 320Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 6-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 8.7L/100km
Price: Dh133,900
On sale: now
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
Nancy 9 (Hassa Beek)
Nancy Ajram
(In2Musica)
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
The five pillars of Islam
OTHER IPL BOWLING RECORDS
Best bowling figures: 6-14 – Sohail Tanvir (for Rajasthan Royals against Chennai Super Kings in 2008)
Best average: 16.36 – Andrew Tye
Best economy rate: 6.53 – Sunil Narine
Best strike-rate: 12.83 – Andrew Tye
Best strike-rate in an innings: 1.50 – Suresh Raina (for Chennai Super Kings against Rajasthan Royals in 2011)
Most runs conceded in an innings: 70 – Basil Thampi (for Sunrisers Hyderabad against Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2018)
Most hat-tricks: 3 – Amit Mishra
Most dot-balls: 1,128 – Harbhajan Singh
Most maiden overs bowled: 14 – Praveen Kumar
Most four-wicket hauls: 6 – Sunil Narine
