By Ethan Aspinall, Mon 18 August 2025 12:04
Wolverhampton Wanderers 0 Manchester City 4: match reportNew signings and Haaland shine in opening day Wolves rout as City kick off Premier League campaign strongly
Manchester City travelled to the Molineux to face Wolverhampton Wanderers in their opening game of the 2025/26 Premier League season in hunt of a strong and promising start to what they will hope will be a return to usual business after surrendering the title to Liverpool last season. New signings James Trafford, Rayan Ait Nouri, and Tijani Reijnders started for the Blues. Oscar Bobb also started following a largely absent season prior for him. Lewis, Dias, and Stones were also in defence along with Bernardo accompanying Reijnders in midfield. Doku started on the left wing with Haaland the sole striker. Before the game, a tribute was made to former Wolves player Diogo Jota who tragically passed away in the summer at the age of 28.
City have struggled at Wolves away recently – losing 2-1 in the 23/24 campaign and needing a last gasp header from Stones last season to secure all three points but they were in an incredibly ruthless move on this occasion. This wasn’t without initial danger from the Wolves attack first – forcing the newly re-signed Trafford to work and testing the defence which had been a key weakness for City in the season prior but showed no sign of any mistakes on this occasion. Particularly Stones, who strongly blocked an effort from Strand Larsen and timed an offside trap to perfection on Wolves forward Munetsi who headed the ball home from a cross only for the flag to be immediately raised.
City had plenty of chances in the 1st half including a miss from Haaland who only had to head the ball into an empty net to give the Blues the lead, but he mistimed his jump. They wouldn’t have to wait long though. Reijnders, making an immediate impression danced past the Wolves midfield and threaded the ball into Lewis who put the ball on a plate for Haaland who tapped the ball home to make it 1-0. City were up and running in the season. Merely moments later, City won the ball again in the edge of their own area after a brilliant interception by Bobb. Bobb ran through and forwarded a pass into Reijnders who struck the ball with his left foot into the bottom right corner to make it 2. A fantastic first half for City and the debutant.
Wolves were still hungry to get back into the game early in the second half with a marginal miss from close range by Larsen and continued pressure, but all the Blues needed to be devastating was possession and around 10 minutes into the second half, orchestrated another brilliant goal. Bobb, on the wing passed the ball through to Reijnders who layed it off to Haaland from a distance who struck the ball with his left foot into the net. His obligatory opening day goal was made into a double and City were running away with it. Another debutant, Rayan Cherki was subbed on for Haaland in the 78th minute and he was also eager to make an impression. And he did just that, moments into his debut he flicked the ball to O’Reilly who passed back to him and with a brilliant strike with his right foot into the corner made it 4. A perfect start off the bench.
That was that. A brilliant performance from City to kick off their League campaign and show intent on returning to title winning ambitions following the underwhelming season prior. The new additions of Trafford, Ait Nouri, Reijnders, and Cherki are clearly eager to impress and with Rodri, Foden, and Gvardiol still to return to the side amidst the rest of the transfer window – Pep will be keen to see what he can do with this side. The Blues face a tough test against Tottenham at home next week, an interesting insight on how the rebuilt team might fare against a potential top 6 side.
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