Wolves v Manchester City predictions: Champions may need patient approach

Free football tips, best bets and analysis for Wolves v Manchester City in the Premier League on Saturday.

Where to watch

BT Sport 1, 12.30pm Saturday

Best bet

Draw-Manchester City double result
1pt 16-5 Hills

Team news

Wolves
Boubacar Traore could make his debut but fellow new signing Diego Costa is short of match fitness. Raul Jimenez is sidelined and Chiquinho and Sasa Kalajdzic are out with long-term knee injuries.

Manchester City
Defenders Kyle Walker and Aymeric Laporte will be assessed as they work their way back to full fitness.

Match preview

Manchester City needed a couple of spectacular late goals to see off Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League on Wednesday night and the Premier League champions may need to be patient on their trip to Wolves.

City appeared to be heading for a rare home defeat against BVB before a sweet John Stones strike and a stunning volley from Erling Haaland secured a 2-1 win inside the final ten minutes.

There are not many areas of improvement for Pep Guardiola's side, champions of England in four of the past five seasons and 2-1 favourites for this term's Champions League, but they are sometimes vulnerable in the early stages of matches.

That sluggishness might have cost them the title on the final day of last season as they trailed Aston Villa 2-0 with less than 15 minutes remaining at the Etihad Stadium before rallying to win 3-2.

This term they were 2-1 down at half-time in the 3-3 draw at Newcastle and Crystal Palace took a 2-0 lead inside 21 minutes at the Etihad before a second-half Haaland hat-trick gave the Citizens a 4-2 victory.

City blew away promoted Bournemouth and Nottingham Forest, leading 3-0 at the break in 4-0 and 6-0 home routs, but they played out a goalless first half in their last league fixture, a 1-1 draw at struggling Villa, and should expect some early resistance from 17-2 hosts Wolves.

There is a vast gulf between the two attacking units – City have scored 20 goals in six league matches this season while Wanderers have just three – and it was a similar story last term.

Kevin De Bruyne scored four goals in the first hour of the champions' 5-1 victory at Wolves in May – a haul that meant the Belgian was the joint-highest scorer at Molineux in last season's Premier League, along with Wolves striker Raul Jimenez.

Wanderers boss Bruno Lage must have hoped Daniel Podence's sixth-minute strike in the 2022-23 opener at Leeds would herald a more prolific season for his forwards.

Since then, though, Wolves have scored only two goals in 534 minutes of top-flight football, and played out goalless draws with promoted Fulham and Bournemouth.

On the plus side, they are not allowing many chances. Southampton had just one shot on target in their 1-0 defeat at Molineux last time out and four of Wolves's six games, including the 1-0 loss at Tottenham, have been level at half-time.

Striker Sasa Kalajdzic suffered a serious knee injury on his debut against Saints and Diego Costa, another new signing, has not played a competitive game since December 2021.

Wolves, then, may well try to contain the Citizens rather than attack them but, as Dortmund found out on Wednesday, it is hard to keep Pep's men quiet for 90 minutes and the draw-City double result looks a good bet.

Key stat

Wolves have not conceded a first-half goal in their last five Premier League matches.

Inside info

Wolves

Penalty taker Raul Jimenez/Ruben Neves
Assist ace Pedro Neto
Set-piece aerial threat Nathan Collins
Card magnet Ruben Neves

Manchester City

Penalty taker Erling Haaland
Assist ace Kevin De Bruyne
Set-piece aerial threat Erling Haaland
Card magnet Joao Cancelo

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