Wolves v Man City: Back De Bruyne to get the job done

Wolves are just about still in with a mathematical chance of claiming a place in Europe, enough to mean they’ll offer Man City a bit more resistance than Newcastle did last week.

Conor Coady’s 97th-minute goal saw Wolves come from 2-0 down to grab a dramatic 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge at the weekend – showing there’s still plenty of fighting spirit left in Bruno Lage’s side.

“I didn’t think it was a penalty…”

Man City beat Wolves 1-0 thanks to a controversial penalty after Bernardo Silva’s cross hit Joao Moutinho’s armpit.

Former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher feels it should NOT have been given pic.twitter.com/jO9bt1PH5x

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) December 13, 2021

That point ended an awful run of three straight defeats and restores some pride as they look to exact some revenge for a tight 1-0 defeat at the Etihad in the reverse fixture.

Wolves had Raul Jimenez sent off in bizarre circumstances with two yellows in 30 seconds, before City got a hugely contentious penalty for handball when it struck Joao Moutinho’s armpit.

City closing in on Premier League title

Man City are closing in on a fourth title in five years under Pep Guardiola, and a sixth since the money from Abu Dhabi came flooding in.

There promises to be a few more to come too if they sign Erling Haaland as expected this summer as the owners prove they’ll never stop pumping cash into the team to keep them on top.

A 5-0 win over Newcastle eased the pain of being dumped out of the Champions League again, and City head to Molineux riding a club record 16-game unbeaten league run on the road (W13 D3).

Guardiola has lost Ruben Dias, John Stones and Kyle Walker for the rest of the season, so Nathan Ake will likely start in defence alongside Aymeric Laporte.

Bookies can’t see anything but City winning

It’s not breaking news that Man City are favourites here, but they are absolutely massive favourites at 1.21/5, while Wolves are a huge 1312/1 for a home win at Molineux.

The draw is priced at 5.59/2 and all three results have appeared in the last three head-to-head meetings here, with Guardiola going draw-loss-win in his last three trips.

Wolves actually did the double over City two seasons ago when Nuno Espirito Santo found the secret formula to beat them, but they lost both games comfortably last season 3-1 and 4-1.

City have banged in 17 goals in their last four league games (imagine how many Haaland will get in this team!) and Wolves did lose 3-0 to Brighton in their last home game.

So there’s potential for goals again, especially if City get their customary early goal as they have been doing lately.

Over 2.5 goals is seen as a certainty at 1.68/13 but the bookies don’t fancy Wolves to find the net as both teams to score is the outsider of two at 2.26/5.

Count on Kevin for a goal involvement

If City win this title, they’ll have Kevin De Bruyne to thank as he’s been magnificent this season and has come up trumps time and again down the stretch.

De Bruyne has scored or assisted in eight of his last 10 games, laying on five goals in his last five games. He’s 2.68/5 for an assist here or can be backed at 1.51/2 for a goal or assist.

It’s just one goal in 10 for Raul Jimenez but he’s still Wolves’ top league scorer and top goal threat at 4.57/2 as an anytime scorer.

It’ll be interesting to see if Lage gives more game time to their latest Portuguese star Chiquinho, who was given 20 minutes off the bench against Chelsea in his first appearance for Wolves – and responded with two assists!

He may again get off the bench with Wolves needing a goal as it’s hard to see City drawing a blank with the title on the line – whether the hosts can get on the scoresheet is the big question.