Manchester City v Wolves – The Opposition

Manchester City welcome Wolves to the Etihad Stadium in the early Saturday kick-off match, which will see the blues consolidate their position at the top of the table if they win.

City moved to the Premier League summit following their 3-1 victory at Watford and face a Wolves side that is a bit hit and miss so far this season.

Form

The visitors current form is erratic. They have won and lost 6 of their 15 games and have failed to score in their last three games. A 1-0 home defeat to Liverpool had followed successive goalless draws at home to Burnley and away to Norwich. In fact, Wolves have scored just one goal in their last 5 matches – a 1-0 home victory over West Ham had followed a 2-0 loss at Crystal Palace.

The visitors have won 3 matches on their travels so far this season. A 2-0 win at Watford and a 1-0 victory at Southampton, both in September, has been added to with a 3-2 win at Aston Villa in October. But they are winless in their last 3 away matches since that win, scoring just two goals on their journeys.

Danger Men

South Korean striker Hwang Hee-Chan is Wolves top scorer with 4 goals so far for the Black Country club. The centre-forward is on a season long loan from RB Leipzig and scored on his debut in the 2-0 win at Watford. Hwang as attempted 7 shots on goal from 13 matches, giving him a shot accuracy of 71%, and a goa conversion rate of 57%.

Raul Jiminez is next on the list with 3, with the Mexican striker attempting 21 shots on goal. Daniel Podence has the best shot accuracy of the Wolves team with 80%, scoring 2 of his 10 shots in his 11 matches.

Jiminez leads the way on the assist chart with 2, and has created 20 chances, the most in the Wolves team by a long way. He has also attempted the most passes with 392, completing 274 and the blues will need to keep him quiet if they want the 3 points.

The pass master seems to be Leander Dendoncker who, from his 360 passes has completed 316, giving him a pass accuracy of 80%, the highest in the Wolves side.

Who’s the Boss?

Bruno Lage is the Wolves boss, taking over from Nuno Espírito Santo, who moved to Spurs over the summer. The Portuguese manager was previously in charge at Benfica before moving to the Midlands. It is his third foray in English football, having previously been assistant at Sheffield Wednesday and Swansea City.

From his 17 matches so far in all competitions, Lage has seen his side win 7 and lose 6, giving him a win ratio of 41%.

Last Time Out

The blues ran out 4-1 winners when these two met in March. Dendoncker had scored an own goal in the 15^th minute, however, Conor Coady levelled on 61. The match looked to be heading for a draw before Gabriel Jesus scored with 10 minutes remaining. Jesus and Riyad Mahrez scored in the closing minutes to give City an emphatic win.