Five things Wolves need to watch out for against Man City

The hosts will be looking to take their momentum from Southampton into this game, but preventing the Champions from winning once again will prove a difficult test.

We’ve picked out five things that Wolves could both do and need to watch out for.

Shutting out Erling Haaland

It’d be difficult to talk about City without mentioning Erling Haaland given his unbelievable start to the season.

So far, the Norwegian international has scored 10 Premier League goals in just six matches meaning stopping him will be an uphill battle from the off.

However, despite losing heavily, AFC Bournemouth managed to stop the 22-year-old from scoring and are still the only team to do so.

During the match, the Cherries constantly had two players on him - effectively marking him out of the game.

Wherever Haaland went, they did too.

And to Bournemouth’s delight, the Norwegian touched the ball just eight times and was withdrawn 74 minutes into the game - a poor game by his standards.

This has got to be something Bruno Lage has looked at, and with better defenders than Bournemouth in Nathan Collins and Max Kilman, Wolves could do it even better.

Adama Traore is City’s worst nightmare

In Adama’s last five appearances against City, he’s managed to score three and assist one but all of those numbers came in two memorable games for Wolves fans.

The first one being at the Etihad Stadium where Wolves sat behind the ball and effectively hit the Citizens on the counter attack with Adama scoring both.

And the second at the Molineux just after Christmas in 2019 as Wolves came from 0-2 down to win 3-2 - the Spanish international was of course involved.

He scored once and assisted another proving why Lage really should consider him tomorrow, despite being out of favour recently.

City’s creativity

Despite Bournemouth shutting Haaland out, they still suffered a heavy defeat and this was because of City’s creativity in midfield and attack.

It seems like an impossible task, especially this season due to the Blues having so many options.

If it’s not Haaland then it’s Kevin De Bruyne, if it’s not him it’s Phil Foden - the list goes on.

Although with that being said, Borussia Dortmund did manage to contain City for the majority of the game sitting in with a low block and many players behind the ball.

Dortmund employed a defensive 4-3-3 formation which is fitting as Wolves have played in a similar set up this season.

And even though they lost in the end, to be 1-0 up against this City side until the 80th minute is undoubtedly impressive and their set up is something Lage may take into the game with his side.

Defensive woes and how Wolves could capitalise

Despite their brilliance so far this season, Man City have conceded seven in their last six matches in all competitions - something that Wolves could take confidence from.

Conceding this many for a team of their ability is something that perfectionist Pep Guardiola will be concerned about, especially this early on.

Against Newcastle United and Crystal Palace, the Citizens conceded a total of five goals - three to Newcastle and two to Palace.

Both teams in these games sat back and hit City on the counter attack which worked effectively due to them having so many players forwards.

When City are dominating the ball, both full backs will invert and join the midfield leaving just the centre backs and usually Rodri to defend.

This provides space out on the flanks where, if teams are quick enough, can capitalise and break before the full backs have time to track back.

Pep’s selections and Lage’s tactics

Recently Guardiola has made some slightly debatable selections despite his usual excellence.

Against Dortmund in the week, he interestingly started John Stones at right back something which he has done previously but in a game like that, it didn’t make too much sense.

The reason being was due to City dominating the ball so heavily, Riyad Mahrez was the only real option on the right hand side as Stones didn’t seem to overlap as Kyle Walker, Joao Cancelo or Sergio Gomez normally would.

This held back the City a little and arguably made it harder for them to find in-roads.

With Walker likely to be injured, Wolves could see Gomez start to make up for this.

And if they do, it’ll only make the Champions more attacking but Lage will be wary of this, especially after the 5-1 defeat last time out.