20:00 Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester City
If Wolves can no longer be punished by the league for making 10 changes and fielding a toothless team at Old Trafford, they must surely have fallen foul of the Trades Description Act by continuing to wear a logo depicting a wild animal. Certainly Manchester United will never find a tamer way of catching Chelsea at the top of the Premier League table.
The stylish way would have been by beating Aston Villa on Saturday, so that this victory would have taken them three points clear, but after the startling events of four days ago – when United were beaten 1-0 by Martin O'Neill's men on their own turf – this was a soporific stroll. While Sir Alex Ferguson will have no grumbles about three easy points, complaints about the Wolves line-up and attitude to the game may be remembered for quite a while longer.
Mick McCarthy sprang a big surprise with his team selection: 10 of them, in fact, as every outfield player from Saturday's notable win at Spurs was rested. In the old days, before anyone had heard of Champions League squads or rotation, teams used to get into trouble for doing that.
Now Wolves can offer the defence that sides at the top of the table regularly make wholesale changes and, presumably argue, that Burnley at home this weekend is a more winnable fixture.
Even so, at least some of the travelling supporters must have thought they were coming to watch the league's most in-form away side and harbouring hopes of an unlikely double, while any neutrals permitting themselves to dream that United might be hit by a Midlands double whammy will have been similarly disappointed.
The stylish way would have been by beating Aston Villa on Saturday, so that this victory would have taken them three points clear, but after the startling events of four days ago – when United were beaten 1-0 by Martin O'Neill's men on their own turf – this was a soporific stroll. While Sir Alex Ferguson will have no grumbles about three easy points, complaints about the Wolves line-up and attitude to the game may be remembered for quite a while longer.
Mick McCarthy sprang a big surprise with his team selection: 10 of them, in fact, as every outfield player from Saturday's notable win at Spurs was rested. In the old days, before anyone had heard of Champions League squads or rotation, teams used to get into trouble for doing that.
Now Wolves can offer the defence that sides at the top of the table regularly make wholesale changes and, presumably argue, that Burnley at home this weekend is a more winnable fixture.
Even so, at least some of the travelling supporters must have thought they were coming to watch the league's most in-form away side and harbouring hopes of an unlikely double, while any neutrals permitting themselves to dream that United might be hit by a Midlands double whammy will have been similarly disappointed.
