Pep Guardiola seeks redemption against rock-bottom Wolves

Manchester City welcome resurgent Wolverhampton Wanderers to the Etihad Stadium for Saturday’s Premier League contest.

City suffered a shocking 3-1 defeat at Bodø/Glimt in the Champions League last time out. Pep Guardiola’s side also fell to a disappointing 2-0 defeat to rivals Manchester United in their last Premier League outing.

Wolves battled to a goalless stalemate with Newcastle United last time out.

Match preview

Manchester City have won 10 of their last 11 Premier League games against Wolves, with the exception being a 2-1 loss at Molineux in September 2023.

Wolves have won just one of their 11 Premier League away games against Manchester City (D1 L9), losing the last five in a row since a 2-0 victory in October 2019.

The Citizens are unbeaten in their last 30 Premier League games against sides starting the day bottom of the table (W24 D6), since losing three in a row in November/December 2008 (vs Bolton, Spurs, West Brom). At home, they’ve won their last nine against bottom placed sides by an aggregate score of 36-0.

Though they’ve lost just one of their last 10 Premier League games (W6 D3), Man City are winless in their last four (D3 L1). They last went longer without a win between October and November 2009 (7 consecutive draws under Mark Hughes).

Wolves are unbeaten in their last four Premier League games (W1 D3), earning twice as many points (6) in this run as they had in their previous 22 matches (W0 D3 L19).

Man City have drawn their last two Premier League home games, letting a lead slip in 1-1 draws with both Chelsea and Brighton. They’ve not drawn three in a row at the Etihad since November/December 2023, also leading at some point in all three of those (vs Liverpool, Tottenham and Crystal Palace).

No side has failed to score in more different Premier League games than Wolves this season (11). However, Rob Edwards’ side have kept a clean sheet in two of their last three league games, having conceded at least once in each of their previous 23.

Antoine Semenyo has been involved in 14 goals in his last 16 home appearances in all competitions (10 goals, 4 assists), scoring and assisting a goal in his only game for Man City at the Etihad Stadium so far.

Since the start of December, 18-year-old Mateus Mané has the most goals (2), and goal involvements (3) for Wolves in the Premier League, while he also ranks second for most shots (12) and touches in the opposition box (15) for the club in that time.

Team news

Manchester City

John Stones, Josko Gvardiol, Ruben Dias, Mateo Kovacic, Oscar Bobb and Savinho are sidelined with injuries.

Bernardo Silva is available to return from suspension while new signing Marc Guehi is in contention for selection.

Wolverhampton Wanderers

Jean-Ricner Bellegarde, Toti Gomes and Leon Chiwome are unavailable due to injuries while Tawanda Chirewa remains a doubt for the trip to Manchester.

Predicted line-ups

Manchester City: Donnarumma, Nunes, Khusanov, Guehi, O’Reilly, Gonzalez, Bernardo, Semenyo, Foden, Doku, Haaland.

Wolverhampton Wanderers: Sa, Mosquera, S. Bueno, Krejci, Tchatchoua, Andre, Mane, J. Gomes, H. Bueno, Hwang, Strand Larsen.