Guardiola's City could spell the end for Gary O'Neil: Wolves vs Man City Preview, Team News & Tips
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With Gary O'Neil under immense pressure in the Wolves hot seat, the west midlands side must now contend with the visit of reigning champions Man City in Sunday's fixture at Molineux.
KICK-OFF DATE/TIME: Sunday 20th October, 2024: UK – 2:00pm / US ET – 9:00am / US PT – 6:00am
HOW TO WATCH ON TV: UK – Sky Sports / US – USA Network
HOW TO WATCH ONLINE: UK – Sky Go / US – Fubo
WOLVES PREVIEW: BOTTOM & WINLESS
Rock-bottom of the table, this is hardly the fixture that Wolves need right now but it does at least bring to an end one of the toughest fixture runs in Premier League history, with Gary O'Neil's men having faced all of the Premier League's top sides, barring Spurs, in their opening seven games of the season.
Despite that mitigating factor though, O'Neil is a man under severe pressure, especially after they conceded five to Brentford in their last outing before the international window.
MAN CITY PREVIEW: WORK TO DO BUT STILL UNBEATEN
Man City needed a brace from an unlikely source in the form of Mateo Kovacic last time out, which helped the champions see off a spirited Fulham side 3-2, and they remain unbeaten in all competitions this season.
Without injured duo Rodri and Kevin De Bruyne though, they have looked vulnerable at the back and, at times, short of ideas in the final third, so Pep Guardiola will be keen to come up with some solutions to those shortcomings that could ultimately cost them in the title race.
WOLVES TEAM NEWS: HWANG TO MISS OUT
Hwang Hee-chan is the latest to be struck down with the South Korean international set to be out for a couple of weeks after sustaining an ankle ligament issue while competing for his country. He joins Yerson Mosquera, Boubacar Traore, Enso Gonzalez and Sasa Kalajdzic on the absentee list.
Bastien Meupiyou may be among that number but the Frenchman has been spotted in training so could be available.
PREDICTED XI (4-1-4-1): Johnstone; Semedo, Dawson, Toti, Ait-Nouri; Andre; Cunha, Lemina, Joao Gomes, Bellegarde; Strand Larsen
UNAVAILABLE: Mosquera (Injured), Traore (Injured), Gonzalez (Injured), Hwang (injured), Kalajdzic (Injured)
QUESTIONABLE: Meupiyou (Injured)
MAN CITY TEAM NEWS: DE BRUYNE CLOSE BUT NOT QUITE READY
Nathan Ake and De Bruyne are on the verge of returning to action but Guardiola conceded that only the former has a chance of making Sunday's squad.
Manuel Akanji picked up a slight issue on international duty and is a doubt, while the same may be the case for City's Brazilian contingent but Guardiola would not be drawn on specifics.
PREDICTED XI (4-1-4-1): Ederson; Lewis, Stones, Dias, Gvardiol; Kovacic; Bernardo, Foden, Gundogan, Grealish; Haaland
UNAVAILABLE: Rodri (Injured), De Bruyne (Injured), Bobb (Injured)
QUESTIONABLE: Ake (Injured), Akanji (Injured)
WOLVES VS MAN CITY PREDICTION
It's obviously the easy thing to do to dismiss bottom-side Wolves here, and no doubt the odds point towards them being comfortably beaten by the champions, but they have raised their game against both Arsenal and Liverpool this season despite losing both encounters.
For all their talents, City are not known to keep clean sheets prolifically. Indeed, heading into the weekend only one side in the top ten have conceded more than Guardiola's men at this stage of the season. Wolves do possess some attacking threat in the likes of Matheus Cunha and Jorgen Strand Larsen, so both teams scoring looks like the value market in this one.
WOLVES VS MAN CITY TIP: BOTH TEAMS TO SCORE
