THE VERDICT: CITY 3 WOLVES 0 Blues see off Wolves without a whimper
CITY BARELY BREAK SWEAT TO PUNISH TEN-MAN WANDERERS AND CLOSE THE GAP ON LIVERPOOL
Has been poor at left-back in the past but, after some shoddy early passing, he made a decent contribution His usual busy, hard-working self, and produced some moments of quality, but no need to move through gears Barely got out of third gear but was still the main controlling influence in the game. Broke up attacks On the night he broke City’s Premier League appearances record, again reminded us of his enduring class The burst which drew the penalty was typical Sterling, and he caused problems all night Those goals have restored his confidence, and it wasn’t just being in the right spot – excellent approach work CITY rolled back a year as two more from Gabriel Jesus and a Wolves own-goal closed the gap at the top of the Premier League back to four points.
The title race remains as lively as Piers Morgan force-feeding himself vegan food – and much of the recent drama in it has been played out at the Etihad.
Unconvincing victories over Bournemouth and Everton in December were followed by a shock defeat to Crystal Palace and then the barnstorming win over Liverpool.
Pep Guardiola risked more waves when he only named Kevin de Bruyne and Sergio Aguero on the bench, but this game very quickly followed the pattern of last season here. A stern test on paper was passed confidently, helped by a goal straight from the Centurions’ playbook.
The ball from Aymeric Laporte, the run from Leroy Sane and the No.9 play from Jesus were all simply perfect.
Wolves were the helpless victims last night, but this goal would have sliced any side apart.
If the visitors could count themselves unfortunate in that regard, they only have themselves to blame for losing further control of the match.
Willy Boly, the handballing scourge of the Blues at Molineux, went into a challenge meatily and despite getting the ball first, proceeded to catch Bernardo Silva on the ankle afterwards.
Fabian Delph saw red for a similar challenge at Leicester and do not expect this decision to be overturned.
That allowed City to dominate the ball – they ended with 76 per cent possession – and when Raheem Sterling streamed into the box with half-time approaching it caught out Ryan Bennett, who brought him down.
Jesus slotted home for his seventh goal in three games, City were cruising like it was 2017/18 and Guardiola was given further vindication for his selections in four January games.
Whatever was said at half-time worked too because the champions came out with exactly the attitude needed to keep their foot on Wolves throats and see out Jesus (10, 39 pen), Coady (78 og) None 76% 24% 33 12 3 1 Fernandinho Boly (sent off) Craig Pawson 54, 171 the game. Ederson could have been on Netflix for all he was tested and there were encouraging cameos off the bench for De Bruyne and Aguero.
The Belgian came on for David Silva after an hour and charged about with furious purpose, mixing the delicious through balls he has almost put a trademark on with venomous shots in the general direction of Rui Patricio.
He will certainly try and claim the third goal when his curling ball into the box was helped in by a combination of Roman Saiss and Conor Coady.
City would still rather be in Liverpool’s position, but 21 goals in four games this year and just one conceded keeps Guardiola’s men in terrific shape for the challenges to come.