Wolverhampton 1 Manchester City 2 EPL Review 21/09/2020

2020-21 English Premier League review

Wolverhampton 1 Manchester City 2 – Molineux stadium – September 21, 2020

Pep Guardiola's men start Premier League campaign with emphatic win over Wolves

Manchester City have begun the 2020-21 season with a convincing 1-3 win over Wolverhampton at the Molineux stadium on Monday night.

City put in a brilliant first-half display, going into the interval with a commanding 2-0 lead.

The quick counter-attacking of their opponents which was the cause of their undoing last season was nowhere to be seen as Fernandinho, Rodri and Kevin De Bruyne kept things tight in the midfield.

Pep Guardiola's men got their first break when Romain Saiss pulled off a clumsy challenge in the box on De Bruyne.

The resultant penalty was taken by the fouled Belgian himself, striking fiercely past Rui Patricio's outstretched left hand and the Citizens were up 1-0 in the 20th minute.

The 32nd minute saw some neat inter-play as Gabriel Jesus dropped deep and essayed a through ball to De Bruyne who slid one through to Raheem Sterling to make a run down the flank.

Sterling then pulled back the ball from the line to Phil Foden who had time enough to shoot into an unguarded net.

The Citizens had 68 per cent of the ball in the first 45 minutes and could have got a couple more had Wolves custodian Rui Patricio not made outstanding saves from a couple of Sterling and Foden attempts.

Nuno Santo's men came out transformed after the interval, playing audaciously attacking football.

The powerful Adama Traore was seen brushing past City left-back Benjamin Mendy and essaying a perfect ball to Daniel Podence in the center, but the Portuguese smacked his shot just past the post.

Another dash down the left saw Ruben Neves’s attempt cleared off the line by Kyle Walker. Podence was in action again as he bore down on the goal but his final pass was side-footed wide by striker Raul Jimenez from only 12 yards away.

But the Mexican made amends with a header past Ederson after Podence had deceived De Bruyne and floated his cross to the near post.

The Wolves pressed hard after the 78th minute goal but City hung on. With seconds for the final whistle to go in extra time, Jesus made it 3-1 with a deflected finish to seal a definitive win for the visitors.

The result meant that not a single match has ended in a draw in the opening two rounds of Premier League fixtures with goals raining galore (44 in all) over a single game week which itself is a 20-year record.

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