(Football news) Wednesday saw Pep Guardiola’s team lose narrowly, 1-0, at Newcastle United, while Tuesday saw Gary O’Neil’s team lose 3-2 on the road against Championship team Ipswich Town.
With back-to-back league losses to Crystal Palace and Liverpool, a contentious 1-1 draw at Luton Town the previous weekend, and an EFL Cup loss to Ipswich in the middle of the week, O’Neil has plenty to think about following an unwelcome four-match winless streak in all competitions.
Thanks to goals from Hwang Hee-chan and Toti Gomes, Wolves took a 2-0 lead at Portman Road inside the first fifteen minutes. However, Ipswich promptly pulled one back before Jack Taylor’s incredible long-range effort completed the comeback midway through the second half.
It is fair to say that the fixture generator was not kind to O’Neil’s team, who have Man City, Aston Villa, Newcastle United, and Tottenham Hotspur up next at Molineux. The West Midlands team returns to home ground this weekend where they have already lost two Premier League games against Brighton & Hove Albion and Liverpool.
Wolves have lost each of their last six encounters with the Citizens by an aggregate score of 19-3, including a 3-0 loss last season despite playing for nearly an hour with 10 men. Since doing the double over Man City in the 2019–20 season, winning 2-0 at the Etihad Stadium and 3-2 at home, Wolves have lost each of the Citizens’ last six meetings.
With Luton and Burnley below them having a game in hand and Wolves currently sitting in 16th place in the Premier League table and just three points above the relegation zone, a loss on Saturday would mark just the third time in Wolves’ history the others being in 1986–87 and 2021–22 that they have lost their first three home league games.
On Wednesday, Man City lost narrowly to Newcastle United in the EFL Cup, exiting in the third round for the first time in 10 years. This was just the second time in 39 games in 90 minutes across all competitions that Man City had tasted defeat.
Alexander Isak’s 53rd-minute goal decided the match in a match of two halves between two teams that had made numerous lineup changes. The Citizens ultimately were unable to respond after going down a goal after a dominant first half in possession.
Although an unprecedented quadruple is no longer possible, Pep Guardiola was full of praise for his team despite the loss. At the very least, City’s exit from the EFL Cup can ease their already busy fixture schedule, which will soon include Club World Cup matches in Saudi Arabia.
Man City, who lead the Premier League standings after winning each of their first six games, are currently getting ready for three back-to-back away games in the next eight days, starting with a trip to Wolves on Saturday and continuing with trips to RB Leipzig in the Champions League and a match against Arsenal in the top division.
The defending champions have fond memories of their last three trips to Molineux, where they won all three by an overall score of 11-2 and netted three goals or more each time. With a victory on Saturday, City would become the first team in history to win their first seven games of a top-flight season.
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