We look ahead to Saturday’s Premier League game at Molineux with our Wolves vs Man City prediction and preview. Will a new-look City side start their season in style in a bid to reclaim the title from Liverpool?
Wolves vs Man City: The Key Stats
Manchester City are predicted to make it nine wins in a row in the month of August, as they are victorious in 62.2% of the Opta supercomputer’s simulations.
Wolves have lost nine of their last 10 Premier League meetings with Man City (W1), although their one victory in this period did come at Molineux last season.
No player provided more assists in France’s Ligue 1 last season than new Man City signing Rayan Cherki (11).
The 2024-25 campaign was a season of two halves for Wolves; the first half a long period of defensive ineptitude and press-conference frustration under Gary O’Neil, and the second half a perfectly orchestrated rescue job by his replacement, Vítor Pereira, whose nous and know-how has given the fanbase room for positivity.
When Pereira was appointed as the new manager of Wolves in December of last season, the club were 19th in the Premier League table, with only nine points from 16 games and a league-worst 40 goals conceded. They ultimately finished 17 points clear of the relegation zone and had become a genuinely difficult team to beat.
It was an extraordinary turnaround and Pereira’s effort should be regarded as one of the English top flight’s most remarkable managerial interventions in recent times.
The task the Portuguese has now is to somehow continue that same level of performance despite the departures of three key players who were all integral to their elevated performance – Matheus Cunha, Rayan Aït-Nouri and Nelson Semedo.
Wolves haven’t been especially busy themselves in terms of incomings. They have made permanent the signing of Jørgen Strand Larsen, who was on loan last season from Celta Vigo, and was the highest-scoring newcomer to the Premier League with 14 goals in his debut season.
They have also dipped into the Celta trough a second time with the signing of Fer López, a promising young attacking midfielder, while another attacker who is expected to have an instant impact is Jhon Arias, who impressed at the FIFA Club World Cup over the summer with Fluminense.
Wolves fans won’t have to wait long to see Aït-Nouri back at Molineux, with the Algerian expected to start at left-back for a new-look Manchester City side on Saturday.
Aït-Nouri could be the fourth player to make his Premier League debut for Man City against a side he previously played for in the competition, after Danny Granville (vs Leeds in 2000), Tommy Wright (vs Newcastle in 2000) and Craig Bellamy (vs Newcastle in 2009).
After failing to win a major trophy for the first time since 2016-17, Pep Guardiola’s first year with the club, City will want to put last season behind them as quickly as possible, and new director of football Hugo Viana has gone to great lengths to refresh the squad.
Man City Season Preview
As well as Aït-Nouri, the club have also signed Tijjani Reijnders, Rayan Cherki and James Trafford for the first-team squad, while there remain continued links to Gianluigi Donnarumma and Rodrygo should Ederson and Savinho depart.
In addition to the permanent departures of senior players in the form of Kevin De Bruyne and Kyle Walker, and the loan of Jack Grealish to Everton, City will be hoping to feel like an entirely refreshed unit who are ready to battle on all fronts once again.
This will be the ninth consecutive campaign City have started with an away match, but it hasn’t stopped them being fast starters. In fact, the club have won their first Premier League game of the season in 13 of the last 14 years, the exception being a defeat to Tottenham Hotspur in 2021.
City’s early-season form actually extends beyond opening games; the aforementioned Spurs loss is their only defeat across their last 31 league matches in the month of August, winning the last eight such games by an aggregate scoreline of 25-5.
Wolves on the other hand have lost their opening league match in four consecutive campaigns, having previously gone unbeaten eight years running in season-openers between 2013 and 2020.
Wolves vs Man City Head-to-Head
Wolves have lost nine of their last 10 Premier League meetings with City (W1), although their one victory in this period did come at Molineux early in the season, winning 2-1 in September 2023 under Gary O’Neil.
Wolves vs Man City 2023-24 stats
Across the last five Premier League campaigns, Manchester City have won the joint-most games (4) and scored the most goals (14) of any side when facing Wolves at Molineux (W4 D0 L1 F14 A5).
Wolves vs Man City Prediction
The Opta supercomputer is backing Man City’s rejuvenated group to get the job done away to Wolves, awarding them a 62.2% chance of victory here.
Wolves opened their campaign with an impressive home win in just 16.6% of simulations, while the likelihood of a draw sits at 21.2%.
Wolves vs Man City opta match prediction
Wolves vs Man City Predicted Lineups
Wolves: José Sá, Matt Doherty, Emmanuel Agbadou, Toti Gomes, Ki-Jana Hoever, João Gomes, André, David Møller Wolfe, Fer López, Jhon Arias, Jørgen Strand Larsen.
Man City: Ederson, Matheus Nunes, Rúben Dias, Josko Gvardiol, Rayan Aït-Nouri, Tijjani Reijnders, Ilkay Gündoğan, Bernardo Silva, Rayan Cherki, Jérémy Doku, Erling Haaland.
Opta Power Rankings
The Opta Power Rankings are a global team ranking system. They assign an ability score to over 13,000 domestic football teams. This score is on a scale between zero and 100, where zero is the worst-ranked team in the world and 100 is the best team in the world.
Ahead of kick-off this weekend, here is the Opta Power Ranking for both sides.
Premier League Stats Opta
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