English Premier
2018-08-25 - Wolves vs Manchester City
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football: English Premier League
Saturday 25th August 2018 - Kick Off 12:30pm
This game is live on TV
Wolves
After coming up from the Championship in some style there were many who felt Wolves might be an outside contender for a European spot in the Premier League this season. They have been given something of an eye opener with the results in the first couple of weeks in the Premier League, but it might also be something of a bedding in period for Wolves who have signed a number of new faces in the last transfer window.
The performances have not been too bad, but Wolves have also benefited from playing two teams who have both been reduced to ten men. With that in mind you could argue Wolves have been fortunate to draw with Everton in their first game before being a little hard done by in their 2-0 defeat at Leicester City last time out.
Wolves have failed to win any of their last 4 games in all competitions going back to last season and they have lost half of those games. They have conceded at least twice in their last 3 League games across the last three months, but Wolves do have a 10 game unbeaten run to protect at Molineux.
Leander Dendoncker is still waiting to make his debut for Wolves, while Matt Doherty is expected to overcome a knock and take his place in the starting eleven.
Manchester City
It has become clear through the first couple of weeks of the new season that Pep Guardiola is not going to allow the standards to slip at Manchester City who have made a very good start to the defence of their Premier League title. Guardiola will expect to see his players tested much more than Huddersfield Town did last weekend and he certainly will be expecting a difficult match at Molineux.
Wins at Arsenal and at home to Huddersfield Town have both come in emphatic fashion for Manchester City as they showed they could play without influential midfielder Kevin De Bruyne. Last season Manchester City won 16 away games in the Premier League and matching that will make it very difficult for any team to prevent them winning the Premier League title again.
Manchester City are unbeaten in 9 games in all competitions going back to last season and they have won 8 of those including all 3 played in the 2018/19 season. They have won 7 of their last 8 away games in all competitions and Manchester City will be going for an 8th straight away Premier League win on Saturday.
De Bruyne is expected to be out until after the international break in November from the early diagnosis given to the Belgian midfielder. Claudio Bravo suffered a bad injury this week too which limits Manchester City's options behind Ederson, while the likes of Raheem Sterling, Riyad Mahrez, Kyle Walker and Leroy Sane will be pushing for a start.
Head to Head
Last season Wolves earned a goalless draw at Manchester City in the League Cup before going out on penalties.
Manchester City have won on 3 of their last 4 visits to Molineux although the last of those came in the 2011/12 season.
Prediction
The first game of this Round of matches in the Premier League comes from Molineux on Saturday afternoon and the television cameras will be in town as Wolves host the Champions Manchester City. The start made by Manchester City will only have encouraged the belief they can win back to back Premier League titles and become the first club to do that in a decade.
Even the absence of Kevin De Bruyne has not affected the way Manchester City have been able to dominate the first two opponents they have played. With a kind fixture list in front of them, Manchester City could make a start similar to last season which put their rivals in a very difficult position by the time we got around to Christmas, but this is not an easy game.
Wolves were a little disappointing against Everton in the 2-2 draw to open the season and I am not sure they win that match if their visitors don't lose Phil Jagielka to a sending off in the first half. They were much better against Leicester City and should have perhaps got more than the 2-0 defeat they suffered, but I would be a little concerned with the amount of goals and chances conceded.
Last season Wolves finished with the joint best defence in the Championship, but the step up in class is going to be hard to manage. While they did earn a 0-0 draw with Manchester City in the League Cup, the pressures are much different in a League game and I do think Wolves are going to need some luck to avoid a loss here.
The home team only lost twice at home in the League last season, but Everton showed they can be got at. This time they face a very strong Manchester City attack and I think it is impossible to ignore the fact that Pep Guardiola's men won 9 of their 19 away League games by more than a single goal margin last season.
Manchester City already won comfortably at Arsenal in the Premier League and a confident group of players can expose some of the Wolves defensive shortcomings in this one. I wouldn't be massively surprised if Wolves are able to play their part with their quality attacking players, but I think the issue is going to be that they won't have the bite to contain the Manchester City attackers and I am going to back the current Champions to win by a couple of goals on Saturday afternoon.
The Statistics :
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The Pick :
Wolves 1-3 Manchester City
