Manchester City vs Wolves prediction: ENGLAND: Premier League betting tips on match 2023-01-21 14:00.
Manchester City’s 4-2 Premier League (PL) win over Tottenham Hotspur may have thrilled the neutrals, but manager Pep Guardiola was less than impressed, claiming his side lacked “passion, fire and desire to want to win from the first minute”. After trailing 2-0 at half-time, City rallied with four second half goals to close the gap to leaders Arsenal to five points, which they could cut to two with a win here.
Given the Cityzens have won the last five H2Hs against Wolverhampton Wanderers, fans will expect their team to do just that, with just one defeat from the last ten home H2Hs (W8, D1) reinforcing that belief. City are formidable at the Etihad Stadium too, losing just one of their last 16 PL home games (W13, D2) so even if they again start poorly, having won their last five PL games anywhere after going two goals down, they can never be discounted.
Wolves suffered FA Cup heartbreak against Liverpool (L 1-0) on Tuesday but since appointing Julen Lopetegui, who was in Spain’s 1994 World Cup squad alongside Guardiola, they’ve only lost one PL game (W2, D1). Now focusing solely on avoiding relegation, Wolves brought in PSG winger Pablo Sarabia earlier this week to boost their attacking options.
His arrival is perhaps timely given the lack of goals has frustrated Wolves fans this term, especially those who’ve travelled with them, as they average just 0.67 goals per away league game this campaign and have only netted more than once away from home in the PL on one occasion (W1, D3, L5). While that might seem unlikely to change imminently at the home of the PL champions, they did score twice here in October 2019 en route to a rare 2-0 H2H win.
Players to watch: Riyad Mahrez turned the Spurs game on its head for Man City with two goals and an assist, taking his tally to seven goal contributions (G5, A2) across his last five appearances. Wolves’ Daniel Podence has been similarly influential of late, scoring three of their four PL goals under Lopetegui’s management, two of them inside the first 25 minutes.
Hot stat: There’s been just one goalless half across the last six H2Hs (Man City: W5, L1).