Nuno fielded a strong starting XI as Wolves beat the Red Devils in the Premier League just weeks after knocking them out of the FA Cup.
Nuno Espirito Santo has rejected suggestions that he was thinking of resting some Wolverhampton Wanderers players for Tuesday night’s Premier League encounter with Manchester United.
Wolves hosted the Red Devils at Molineux just five days before arguably one of the biggest fixtures in their recent history, the FA Cup semi-final meeting with Watford at Wembley on Sunday.
Nonetheless, the hosts named a strong starting XI (Sky Sports) and ended up defeating the Old Trafford side for the second time in little over a fortnight, adding a 2-1 league triumph to the 2-0 win in the FA Cup on 16 March.
The result, which came about thanks to Diogo Jota’s 25th-minute equaliser which cancelled out Scott McTominay’s opener, plus Chris Smalling’s second-half own goal, meant Wolves have gone unbeaten against United in 2018-19, the first league encounter ending in a 1-1 away draw (11v11).
With a fairly big gulf in points between the top six and the likes of Wolves, but likewise a huge gap to the bottom three, some thought that Nuno could have opted to play some fringe players against Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side, as reported by Sky Sports News, but the Portuguese made his feelings clear on the suggestion.
“No, there’s no such thing,” he stressed. “There was the game, there was a game plan, we take the decisions and the options, and we prepare for the next one. The preparation for the next game starts (Wednesday).
“Two very good results against such a good team requires a lot and the boys worked very well. I’m pleased with the performance, that’s what is important. To do it twice makes the effort worthwhile. It’s not easy to play against Manchester United.”
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