2 May 2025
Man City 1 Wolves 0
The Kevin De Bruyne farewell tour continues as Man City try to secure themselves a top five spot and Champions League football next season. They welcomed Wolves to The Etihad who had hit a rich-vein of form at the right time of the campaign. It would be unthinkable for Pep Guardiola’s side to be playing Europa League football, considering the money spent to amass this squad.
Wolves were looking for their seventh win on the spin and started in confident mood. Cunha beat four Man City players before threading a pass through the hosts’ defence. Bellegarde ran through on goal, albeit in a wide position. He spotted Munetsi in the centre and looked to play it into his path for a simple tap-in to an empty goal. Sadly the Wolves’ attacker got the pass all wrong.
Vitor Pereira’s side were dominating the game and had another chance to take the lead. As Cunha drove into the box, he was tackled but the ball broke to Ait-Nouri. He drilled a first-time shot towards the corner, only to see his effort come crashing back off the post. He had a second bite of the cherry but his shot was superbly blocked on the line by Gvardiol.
Man City created their first chance of the game as Doku caused problems for the visitors. He then laid it into the path of O’Reilly but the youngster seemed to snatch at his chance as it fizzed over the crossbar. At least it was a shot at goal to get these fans going at The Etihad. With Wolves dominating, they seemed as though someone needed to put fifty pence in them again.
Doku drove into the box again before cutting it back to De Bruyne on the penalty spot. He was as calm as ever as he slotted the ball into the far corner to break the deadlock. Man City are going to have to spend some big money to replace what the Belgian brings to this side. It is baffling that they opted not to give him a new contract, despite his injuries.
The visitors were finding out something that should not be news to them. If you do not take your chances at this level, more often that not, you are going to be punished. Even at this point you would have to say that Vitor Pereira’s side had created enough to still be ahead in this game. They needed to keep their foot on the gas to cause Pep Guardiola’s side problems.
After the interval Cunha tried an effort from just outside the box. It had Ederson well beaten but crashed against the post and came back out. There will be a lot of teams interested in the Brazilian this summer and Man City may be one of them. Without knowing it, he could have been interviewing for the role to replace De Bruyne in this game.
Finally the game opened up as both sides looked to get forward. Man City were passing the ball around and stretching Wolves. De Bruyne played it to Bernardo Silva, who immediately slotted a pass to Marmoush wide in the box. He cut inside onto his left foot and got a shot off at goal but skied it over like the ball like the ball was filled with just helium.
Rodri looked on from the touchline as he continues his rehabilitation from a terrible ACL injury. Man City fans are still convincing themselves that this is the sole reason they are not challenging for the title this season, good luck with that. They may have a rude awakening when they line up De Bruyne-less next campaign, hoping a defensive midfielder was the missing link.
While you could say this could have been a more convincing win for the hosts, all they were really creating was half-chances. Kovacic was the next to waste one as he dragged a shot well wide of the target when he had plenty of time and space on the ball. You felt Pep Guardiola’s side needed to find a second goal if they were going to make this game safe.
Man City look a shadow of their former selves. It is very much like their Manchester neighbours currently, the fear factor has gone from visiting them. Wolves proved this at The Etihad, they were the better team and created more chances. Never would you expect a side who have been embroiled in a relegation battle all season to come here and play like tiki-taka Barcelona.
The hosts held on for a crucial three points, but Pep Guardiola is no mug. In his post-match media duties he admitted his side were lucky and that Wolves created plenty of opportunities. Whether the Spaniard can get this team back to their best, remains to be seen. This season seems to have knocked the wind out of them, they no longer seem to believe they are the titans they once were.
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