The top spot in the Premier League table was up for grabs for Man City as they took on Wolves, who were in 15th, and now they have declined one more; they have only won one match in the league so far this season. The home side had been quite unlucky as their new marquee signing, Sasa Kalajdzic, suffered an ACL injury. He will be out for some significant time. In the meantime, Bruno Lage has turned to former Premier League winner Diego Costa to find some goals in his struggling side, though the manager has said he’ll still need time to get fit enough for the league.
🅢🅞🅤🅡🅒🅔
Costa and Raul Jiminez were also unavailable; Podence led the line for the home side. Despite the injuries up top, Hwang Hee-chan, who was predicted to start, only made the bench.
WOLVES XI (4-3-3): Sa; Jonny, Nathan Collins, Max Kilman, Rayan Ait-Nouri; Matheus Nunes, Ruben Neves, Joao Moutinho; Goncalo Guedes, Daniel Podence, Pedro Neto.
SUBS: Boubacar Traore, Hwang Hee-chan, Matija Sarkic, Yerson Mosquera, Nelson Semedo, Toti Gomes, Connor Ronan, Hugo Bueno, Chem Campbell.
🇵🇹 Guedes back in the XI.
— Wolves (@Wolves) September 17, 2022
🇲🇱 Boubacar on the bench.
How we line-up to take on @ManCity. #WOLMCI
🐺📋 pic.twitter.com/1h1UmpVYc0
Pep Guardiola’s side, on the other hand, were flying high, as City currently have an unbeaten run in all competitions that now stands at eight games which increased further today. It has been over a year since they have lost to Wolves away, winning 15 and drawing six since.
🐺 𝗜𝘁'𝘀 𝗠𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵𝗱𝗮𝘆 🔵#ManCity pic.twitter.com/6WoMSHy4rk
— Manchester City (@ManCity) September 17, 2022
Aymeric Laporte is still not ready to play, so Guardiola opted for John Stones at right-back.
MAN CITY XI (4-3-3): Ederson; John Stones, Ruben Dias, Manuel Akanji, Joao Cancelo; Keven De Bruyne, Rodri, Bernardo Silva; Phil Foden, Erling Haaland, Jack Grealish.
SUBS: Kyle Walker, Nathan Ake, Ilkay Gundogan, Stefan Ortega, Julian Alvarez, Sergio Gomez, Riyad Mahrez, Scott Carson, Cole Palmer.
Today's team news 📝
— Manchester City (@ManCity) September 17, 2022
XI | Ederson, Stones, Dias, Akanji, Cancelo, Rodrigo, De Bruyne (C), Bernardo, Foden, Haaland, Grealish
SUBS | Ortega Moreno, Carson, Walker, Ake, Gundogan, Alvarez, Gomez, Mahrez, Palmer#ManCity | @HaysWorldwide pic.twitter.com/HhhjMe6GZT
Three of Wolves’ four Premier League victories over Manchester City have come in home games, beating them at Molineux in 2003-04, 2010-11, and 2019-20.
Having only conceded four goals this season, Wolves had the best defensive record in the league so far, but who knew this would happen? It has not even been 60 seconds yet! GOAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLL!!! De Bruyne was constantly on the move. He's the one who initially passed the ball to Foden and immediately ran behind him to get it back. He bypassed Ait-Nouri so easily, and his cross was perfect as both Grealish and Haaland were ready in the box to pounce. Jack Grealish nicked it away for his first goal of the season. Wolves 0-1 Man City.
.@JackGrealish with our first ⭐️ pic.twitter.com/CXmyxYp0Tj
— Manchester City (@ManCity) September 17, 2022
Just 5⃣5⃣ 𝐒𝐄𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐃𝐒 in - and Grealish opened the scoring! 👏
— Manchester City (@ManCity) September 17, 2022
🐺 0-3 🔵 #ManCity pic.twitter.com/sUOBAXlC4O
Wolves wanted to get one back. They had a good spell of possession around the box, but Neto's' concentration lapsed for a moment, and he lost the ball. The same story again, but the price was costly. Wolves lost the ball again, and City took advantage of the gaps. GOAAAALLLLLLLLLL!!!! Wolves 0-2 Man City! Who else but Erling Haaland?. Haaland received the ball and ran at Max Kilman, who he quickly turned inside-out. The striker fired his shot past Sa, scoring his 14th goal of the season.
.@ErlingHaaland netting our second ⚽️ pic.twitter.com/QM61UwbTFy
— Manchester City (@ManCity) September 17, 2022
Haaland is now the first player in Premier League history to score in each of his first four away games in the competition.
It went from bad to worse for Wolves as a reckless and unnecessary challenge from Collins saw him get a straight red card.
However, Wolves were somehow looking better and more confident with ten men on the pitch. Neto especially looked lively as he tried to get his side back into it. Wolves had been better this half, but it's Man City who scored. Haaland received the ball, and De Bruyne made a similar overlapping run to the first goal. This time he set up Foden, who flicked the ball into the back of the net.
.@PhilFoden rounding off the scoring 💫 pic.twitter.com/kGxsublnbE
— Manchester City (@ManCity) September 17, 2022
After assisting twice today, De Bruyne has been directly involved in 150 Premier League goals (58 goals, 92 assists) in just 217 appearances in the competition. I Haven't seen any midfielder with this kind of effect in EPL after the Ronaldo ERA.
150 @premierleague goal contributions for @KevinDeBruyne 🌟#ManCity pic.twitter.com/Uj37VTX3jE
— Manchester City (@ManCity) September 17, 2022
Wolves wanted to get something from the game, but as a reminder, Wolves haven’t scored in the second half in any of their last seven Premier League games – it’s their longest such run in the competition, while the last team to have a longer streak were Southampton between October and December last season (8), and now Wolves have done it this season so early that could lead to consequences.
HIGHLIGHTS
The win means that City jump ahead of Arsenal to the top of the table. With three more goals, they now have a goal difference of +17, the most by far in the league. Wolves drop down to 16th for now, and their fans will be hopeful that Costa can help add some much-needed attacking force to this side.