Rob Edwards relishing Wolves' Molineux Man United clash

And the Wolves veteran of many years on the playing and coaching staff thinks that fans may see a bit of Nuno Espirito Santo's first team in his young stars.

That's certainly the aim, anyway, with the under-23s having switched formation to mirror Nuno's 3-4-3 formation this season.

And with 1,000 tickets sold for the top-of-the-table clash, which would see Edwards' charges leapfrog United with a win, it's a game Edwards can't wait for.

"We're really looking forward to it – it'll be a great challenge and it'd be lovely for the fans to turn out," Edwards told the Express & Star.

"We've tried to drum up a bit more interest because they're a talented group who are playing some great football."

They certainly are. The next Wolves generation have netted 22 goals in just eight games this season, with a 7-0 hammering of Sunderland last month boosting that tally.

"The philosophy is the same as the first team," Edwards said.

"We try and mirror what they do. Nuno is constantly taking our players for training – today they had three, the other day they had five – and that's great for us because they're getting the best education.

"Then with us it's similar messages. The 3-4-3 system is very hard to play against – we came up against Chelsea (FA Cup tie in 2017 when Edwards was first team coach) who played it and won the league that season.

"Nuno's come in here and done fantastically well with the structure and the players – you add the coaching detail to that and you've got a recipe for success.

"The shape is everything. A lot of what we work on off the back of that shape has made us a really strong unit.

"Even when we've had an off night we're quite difficult to break down."

A number of the under-23 squad have featured for Nuno's first team since the start of pre-season and are likely to feature on Friday night.

Edwards added: "Elliot Watt, Benny Ashley-Seal and Pedro Goncalves made their debuts at Sheffield Wednesday, Ryan Giles has been on the bench and was involved in pre-season, then you've got Niall Ennis, new signings like (midfielder) Sadou Diallo and Max Kilman at the back, Andreas Sondergaard has been performing very well in goal, Oskar Buur Rasmussen played for the first team last season...you can go through the whole team.

"We've got high hopes for all of them that they'll have a career in the game.

Our new signings – Max, Sadou and Alex Molberg who's come in on loan, they've undoubtedly helped us as a group.

"We have Paulo Alves on the periphery as well, he came from Liverpool and has worked hard, he's a talented footballer with a good attitude."

It's the first under-23 game of the season to be played at Molineux (7pm kick off).

United's Under-19s beat Juventus 4-1 in the UEFA Youth League this week and a number of players from that team could feature.

Edwards said: "United have some great players – they were very impressive against Juventus and whatever team they put out they'll have some very talented youngsters.

"Our lads will enjoy being at Molineux – most of them have played there before but the changing rooms have been done again now, it's a Premier League ground and it'll be a good experience, not to mention the fact they're facing one of the biggest clubs in the world.

"We're second in the table, we've made a great start and we'd love to go above Man United by winning on Friday."