The football season is back and Manchester City face a testing month starting with an opening day trip to Wolves. The Blues will be eager to get their season off to a good start with ground to make up on champions Liverpool, who, by the time the Blues take to the field, will have already played their opening fixture at home to Bournemouth.
Wolves will be hoping to get their season off to a better start than they did last years, where they lost seven and drew three of their opening ten Premier League matches and a home fixture against City isn’t really what they wanted to see.
Wolves will be hoping that their end of season form from May coupled with their pre-season struggles won’t be a catalyst for the season. They lost three and drew one of their final four games in May which ended a run of six straight victories.
More worryingly for Wolves is their pre-season form which saw them lose four and draw two of their six games in July and August. They lost 2-1 to Portuguese side Santa Clara, before drawing successive matches with Burnley and Stoke (both 1-1).
A 3-1 home defeat by Lens was followed up with a 2-1 loss at City’s sister club Girona. Their final pre-season match was at home to Spanish side Celta Vigo, who walked away from Molineux.
After facing the Blues, Wolves will face Bournemouth and Everton before the international break and they are not easy matches, particularly Everton, who will have City loanee Jack Grealish eager to make a point or two, in their side.
New Faces and Departing Stars
Wolves have seen two key players depart for Manchester and Stretford over the summer and that will no doubt have an effect. Rayan Ait-Nouri joined the Blues in a £31m deal while Matheus Cunha made the move to Old Trafford for £62.5m.
They spent some of the money gained from those transfers by raiding Celta Vigo for striker Jorgen Strand Larsen (£23m) and right winger Fer Lopez for £19.5m. Bristol City Centre back Ashley Williams joined on a free transfer from Bristol City while Jhon Arias will challenge Lopez for the wing position after signing from Fluminense.
Wolves look to have completed their transfer activity for now by replacing Ait-Nouri with the signing of Norwegian left-back David Moller Wolfe from Dutch side AZ for £10m
Vítor Manuel de Oliveira Lopes Pereira, better known as, and for good reason, Vitor Pereira, is the man at the Wolves helm. The Portuguese boss is with his 8th club in 10 years (9 if you count Fenerbahce twice), having managed Al Shabab, Flamengo, Corinthians, Fenerbahce, Shanghai SIPG and Olympiacos since January 2015.
Despite his numerous employers over the yeas, Pereira actually has a decent win ratio. Throughout his total management career, Pereira has presided over 667 matches, winning 358 and losing just 150, which gives him an overall win ratio of 54%.
For Wolves, he falls just short of that ratio. Pereira has managed 25 matches in the Black Country, winning 12 and losing nine, which gives him a win ratio of 48%.
Last Time at Molineux
City travelled to Wolves in October 2024 and, despite going a goal down to loanee Strand Larsen, recovered to win the match 2-1. Josko Gvardiol levelled the scores in the 33rd minute before a last minute goal by Johnny Stones gave City the points.