Man City v Wolves: Guardiola's men to continue winning streak in close contest
- Cameron Loftus
- 27 January 2022
The table-toppers, who are on a 20-game winning streak, seem impossible to oppose in this midweek clash.
When: Tuesday, March 2, 20:00 GMT
How to watch: BT Sport
Last three Premier League meetings:
Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-3 Manchester City (September 21, 2020)
These sides met on the first matchday of the season at Molineux with Pep Guardiola's men running out fairly comfortable 3-1 winners.
Two quick-fire goals from Kevin De Bruyne and Phil Foden gave City a 2-0 half-time lead before Raul Jimenez then got Wolves back into the match with a powerful header.
However, Wolves couldn't get back on terms and Gabriel Jesus restored the two goal margin via a deflected effort in the 90th minute.
Wolverhampton Wanderers 3-2 Manchester City (December 27, 2019)
In a controversial game that saw City goalkeeper Ederson sent off after 12 minutes, Wolves claimed a hard-fought victory.
The ten men of Manchester City went 1-0 up when Raheem Sterling scored at the second time of asking, after Rui Patricio had saved his initial penalty.
Sterling then struck on the counter attack for his second of the game with a clever chip, before Wolves mounted a superb comeback against the reigning champions.
Goals from Adama Traore, Raul Jimenez and Matt Doherty sealed an unlikely victory in an action-packed Premier League match.
Manchester City 0-2 Wolverhampton Wanderers (October 6, 2019)
Adama Traore stole the headlines at the Etihad in 2019, scoring both goals of the game in a shock Wolves win.
After only scoring once in his 39 appearances prior, Traore bagged twice in 90 minutes to enable Wolves to take all three points.
It was only the second time in 45 league games that Manchester City had failed to score, highlighting what Wolves had achieved.
Head-to-head in the Premier League
Played: 11
Manchester City wins: 6
Draws: 2
Wolves wins: 3
Manchester City scored: 21
Wolves scored: 13
Wolves aiming for a top ten finish this season
What is a successful season for Wolves?
After an up and down start to the season, Wolves are finally starting to hit consistent form in the Premier League and are unbeaten in their last five matches.
Victories against Arsenal, Southampton and Leeds as well as draws against Leicester and Newcastle have helped push Nuno Espirito Santo's team up to 12th in the league.
If they can build on this momentum, it would not be out of the question for them to achieve a top ten finish this season, which is 4/1 with the majority of bookies.
Wolves' last five Premier League results:
Wolves 2-1 Arsenal (Neves, Moutinho)
Wolves 0-0 Leicester City
Southampton 1-2 Wolves (Neves, Neto)
Wolves 1-0 Leeds (Meslier (OG))
Newcastle 1-1 Wolves (Neves)
Nuno Espirito Santo's men have won three from their last five games
Although Wolves' next four games seem tough against Man City, Aston Villa, Liverpool and West Ham, they then face a favourable run of games.
Fulham, Sheffield United, Burnley and West Brom are their opponents leading up to May and if they can pick up plenty of points from those games against relegation threatened sides, they will continue to climb up the ladder.
A result against Man City on Tuesday is hard to imagine, but with the return of influential striker Raul Jimenez likely before the end of the season, Wolves supporters will be expecting to see their team pull off a top-half finish.
John Stones celebrates his winner against West Ham
Can Man City continue to win?
With their current winning streak standing at an incredible 20 games, is there any stopping Pep Guardiola's men?
It is hard to say yes to that question, especially considering the way that the Sky Blues are playing at the minute.
Add to that a near fully-fit squad worth hundreds of millions, and it would seem that the sky's the limit.
The most impressive feature of that winning run is that they are still competing for four trophies, the Premier League, League Cup, FA Cup and Champions League.
With realistic hopes in all four, winning the quadruple is very much a possibility for Man City. They are priced at 15/2 with Sky Bet to do just that.
Pep Guardiola looks to lead Man City to their 21st straight win
Scoreline prediction: Manchester City 2-1 Wolves
Wolves have won two of the last three encounters with Manchester City, but it should be said they have never faced them in this kind of form.
City have shown grit and determination to get results in the past few weeks, epitomised by their 2-1 home success against West Ham at the weekend.
There is no value in predicting a Man City win, even for your accumulators, so it would make sense to predict the correct scoreline of the match.
These clashes always produce close encounters and so I am going to side with a 2-1 win to Manchester City. This scoreline is a best price 10/1 with bet365.
Over the past few weeks, Wolves have settled on a back three with Leander Dendoncker sitting alongside Conor Coady and Romain Saiss and it has proven difficult for teams to create chances against them.
Nelson Semedo has been able to push further forward and play more as a winger in attacking phases, although against a team 12 points clear at the top of the league, that might not be possible.
The return of Jonny Otto has added balance, being an out-and-out left wing-back, making Wolves stronger in their wider areas.
January 20:
— B/R Football (@brfootball) February 28, 2021
Man Utd—40 points
Man City—38 points
Today:
Man City—62 points
Man Utd—50 points pic.twitter.com/091HLy8Hho
Manchester City do though guarantee goals, and they can strike at any time during a game.
One first half and one second half goal saw off West Ham in their last game and it would not be a surprise to see a repeat of that against Wolves on Tuesday night.
Therefore my pick for an accumulator would be Man City to score in both halves at 19/20 with William Hill.
Gabriel Jesus (right) is 22/5 to score the first goal against Wolves
Goalscorer bets
It is a task predicting the Manchester City line-up, considering they have a near fully-fit squad to pick from.
Therefore, I would suggest holding your first goalscorer bet until the teams are announced, and I am siding with whichever striker (if they choose to play with one) Pep Guardiola decides to start.
Currently Sergio Aguero is 3/1 with Unibet to be first goalscorer and Gabriel Jesus is 22/5 with the same betting company.
Ruben Neves has scored in three of his last five Premier League appearances and is rediscovering the goalscoring form he hit in his first season at Wolves.
Neves is known for his long-range shooting ability, but he even managed to score his first headed goal at the weekend against Newcastle.
The Portugese midfielder is 12/1 to score anytime with bet365 and I feel represents extremely good value for Wolves' free-kick and penalty taker, who is undoubtedly in very good form.
City are priced at 10/1 to win 2-1
