Match From The Past: Wolves 0-2 Manchester City

In 2012, title chasing City visited Molineux and a match against relegation threatened Wolves. At the start of the day, City sat five points behind United with four matches remaining. The reds were at home to Everton, which most thought would mean a certain three points for Ferguson’s men. With a derby against United coming up, City had to win to keep their slim hopes alive. The blues had lost at Wolves the previous season, and their record in this fixture wasn’t exactly the best, so by the time the match kicked off, the blues were more than a little apprehensive.

By the time the blues match kicked off, United had thrown away a 4-2 lead to draw 4-4 with the Toffees, meaning a City win would put them three points behind their neighbours and rivals.

The blues started the match well, with Carlos Tevez firing over the bar within the first thirty seconds. Both Wolves and City had chances to take the lead, but it was City that took the lead. Gael Clichy’s inch perfect cross slipped past the Wolves defender, and Sergio Aguero made no mistake from 12 yards out. The City fans went wild as United were in their sights.

City continued to press and continued to miss opportunities, and the longer it stayed at 1-0, the chances were that Wolves would somehow scramble an equaliser. They had to do something or else they were down.

In the second half, City lost some momentum and began misplacing passes, and Joe Hart was forced into an excellent save to prevent Wolves from scoring. The blues were suddenly looking more susceptible, so boss Roberto Mancini changed things around and brought on Nigel de Jong for David Silva. Suddenly, the blues looked more composed and it showed in the 74th minute. Carlos Tevez took a quick free kick on the half way line and played a one-two with Pablo Zabaleta, before sliding the ball to Samir Nasri who made the points safe as he fired across goal to make it 2-0.

The two results left the blues just three points behind United, and with the derby coming up, City’s hopes were rekindled again. Sadly for Wolves, they would drop into the Championship after a three year stay in the Premier League.