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    • Wolves vs Manchester City: Premier League – live | Premier League
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    Wolves vs Manchester City: Premier League – live | Premier League

    Kathleen William Posted on

    Important events

    Speaking of City: They welcome Nathan Aké back – he's on the bench – as is Manuel Akanji, who suffered a minor knock on international duty. So Stones comes into play as a central defender, while Jeremy Doku and Savinho play on the wings, while Phil Foden and Jack Grealish remain in the reserves.

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    Of course, O'Neil has to do without Yerson Mosquera, Sasa Kalajdzic, Enso González, Bastein Meupiyou and Boubacar Traoré – and now Hwang Hee-chan, who is playing for South Korea with an injury and will be out for around a month. As a result, Matheus Cunha and Jørgen Strand Larsen start at the front and have the opportunity to give John Stones and Ruben Dias a busy afternoon.

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    O'Neil tells Sky that Sam Johnstone was injured in training, so José Sa comes into play – and pushes for selection. He says morale is good – Wolves have had a difficult run of games and generally played well, although the performance last time out, against Brentford, was unacceptable. Even though it's a tough game today, they believe they can turn things around and after winning this game last year, they know what it takes and how well they have to play to win.

    Otherwise, he takes the risk out of the build-up play because his players don't need complexity at the moment, but that's not the reason why he went for five in defense – he always did that against City. After all, it doesn't bother him that Guardiola or any other manager says Wolves are good – they just need to play well.

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    Teams!

    Wolverhampton Wanderers: (3-5-2) Sat; Bueno, Dawson, Gomes T; Semedo, Gomes J, André, Lemina, Ait-Nouri; Cunha, Larsen. Subs: Bentley, Doherty, R. Gomes, Doyle, Sarabia, Forbs, Bellegarde, Guedes, Lima.

    Manchester City (4-1-4-1): Ederson; Lewis, Stones, Dias, Gvardiol; Kovacic; Sávio, Gündogan, Bernardo, documentary; Haaland. Subs: Ortega Moreno, Carson, Ake, Grealish, Akanji, Nunes, Foden, O'Reilly, McAtee.

    Referee: Chris Kavanagh (Manchester)

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    Updated at

    preamble

    That the table doesn't lie is one of football's truest truisms. There is a metric specifically designed to tell us which team deserves to win a game – better known as a “score” – and those results are then combined into a precise overall standings that brooks no debate. It sounds easy because it is.

    And yet! Wolves, as shown in the above table, are the team's second-worst team, with one point from seven games, two less than Crystal Palace, who are above them, and the same as Southampton, who are below. But the feeling remains that they aren't that bad, or at least shouldn't be that bad, and as such Gary O'Neil is under a lot of pressure.

    He will not expect any favors from Manchester City. Just as the Wolves are more than just a number in a column, so are the Champions. The relentless accumulation of the early Guardiola years is being replaced by the grim certainty that they will do whatever it takes to finish a place ahead of their nearest challenger. And having beaten Arsenal yesterday, they will know that today they will be given the opportunity to highlight that punishing reality.

    However, Wolves have the tools to cause them problems – particularly in midfield, where their drive and physicality can make any team uncomfortable, not to mention still struggling to cope without the best midfielder in the world . If they can start fast and defend well, this could be an intense and competitive contest. If they can't do that, they're in even more trouble than the rankings suggest.

    Kick-off: 2pm BST

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    Kathleen William
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