Wolves dismantle an injury-hit City
HERO: TRAORE DOUBLE LEAVES PEP’S MEN FLOUNDERING
Two late goals by from Wolves’ Adama Traore inflicted a stunning 2-0 defeat on Manchester City to leave the Premier League champions trailing leaders Liverpool by eight points.
It was a thoroughly deserved victory for the Nuno Espirito Santo’s men, who enjoyed the better chances and became the first team to stop City scoring at the Etihad Stadium in 34 matches.
With only eight games played, Liverpool now have a big chance to win their first league title for 30 years after starting the campaign with eight straight wins.
The urgency of the situation for Pep Guardiola’s men was apparent as they have already dropped more points at home than in the whole of last season.
City were again made to pay for a series of key defensive injuries and badly missed the creativity of Kevin de Bruyne in midfield.
Wolves had two days less rest and a trip back from Istanbul to cope with after winning at Besiktas in the Europa League on Thursday night.
However they never tired and finally took their chances through Traore in the final 10 minutes.
Twice in a matter of moments during the first half, Raul Jimenez was played through by loose passes from City players, but the Mexican striker was unable to convert either opportunity.
He was first denied by an excellent tackle from Fernandinho and on the second chance he delayed and failed to get his shot away, although he felt he was impeded and should have been given a penalty.
City looked like the team suffering a European hangover as they struggled to move the ball with their usual fluidity and Wolves goalkeeper Rui Patricio was not called into action until past the half-hour mark when he pushed away Raheem Sterling’s shot.
Guardiola made a tactical switch at half-time as he sent on Oleksandr Zinchenko in place of Kyle Walker and put Joao Cancelo in the rightback position.
But there was not the speed in City’s play or the space to open up their opponents, even after Bernardo Silva was summoned from the bench for Riyad Mahrez.
The breakthrough they so badly wanted almost came when David Silva was brought down just outside the area before curling the free-kick against the bar.
But with 10 minutes remaining, the decisive blow was delivered by Traore as he coolly slotted past Ederson after Jimenez had skipped away from Nicolas Otamendi.
And in the final minute of injury time with City pushing men forward, Traore repeated the trick. – AFP