Wolves 1 (Strand Larsen 7) Manchester City 2 (Gvardiol 33, Stones 90+5)
Wolves, not for the first time this season, felt they deserved more for their disciplined performance on Sunday, as a last-gasp Manchester City winner, covered in VAR controversy, meant the hunt for a win continues.
The Old Gold had stunned the visitors when Nelson Semedo broke down the right and crossed into the box for Jorgen Strand Larsen to calmly tap home in the first ten minutes.
While City dominated possession, Wolves held firm until just after the half-hour when Jeremy Doku laid the ball back to Josko Gvardiol, who finished neatly from range.
It was looking like Wolves were going to secure a much-needed second point of the season, after limiting Man City to half-chances in the second half, but it was heartbreak and controversy in added time when a John Stones header was adjudged to be fair after a lengthy VAR check.
Looking for more defensive stability against the champions, Wolves started with a back three, with Jose Sa back in goal for the first time since the 6-2 defeat to Chelsea in August and it was clear that disciplined defending was going to be the order of the day.
Savinho saw a lot of the early running for City on the right as the reigning champions dominated possession, but Wolves had bodies back defending en masse. And it was the home side who impressively turned defence into lethal attack to take the lead when Santiago Bueno picked out Semedo. The defender hit a superb cross into the City box and Strand Larsen was waiting at the back post to tap home his third Premier League goal of the season.
Despite going a goal behind, the visitors were showcasing their typically neat interplay and finding spaces in behind, with Ilkay Gundogan laying back to Doku in the box, but the winger blasted over. Moments later, it was Savinho picking out Bernardo Silva, but Sa showed his class with a save down to his right.
Wolves created a smart chance of their own. Under pressure in their final third, Rayan Ait-Nouri played into Matheus Cunha, who turned his man. An incisive pass saw Semedo through down the middle. He raced towards goal with Gvardiol bearing down on him but was unable to beat Ederson.
Gvardiol was at the heart of the action at the other end of the pitch moments later, forming an impressive triangle with Doku and Gundogan. But two sharp crosses fired in by Doku across the face of the Wolves goal were met by Wolves defenders.
The Doku-Gvardiol partnership down the left that had increasingly threatened as the game went on proved fruitful just after the half-hour mark, as Doku set the ball back to Gvardiol on the edge of the box, and the Croatian struck into the top of the net past Sa.
Manchester City ended the half strongly as Silva won the ball off Andre in the Old Gold box and found Rico Lewis. Lewis picked out Savinho, who struck hard and low, bringing another strong save from Sa.
Half-time | Wolves 1 Manchester City 1
The momentum was firmly with Manchester City at the start of the second half, with Doku and Savinho having switched flanks to offer Wolves fresh challenges, and it was from the left that Savinho fizzed across an inviting ball, but it evaded everyone.
Wolves struggled to make any headway in the early stages of the second half as City probed, but it was a long-range effort from Ruben Dias that drew the first save from Sa, once more palming out down low.
Ait-Nouri and Cunha then fashioned an opening out of nothing, passing between themselves down the left, with Cunha driving in-field before shooting just wide of Ederson’s goal, but Wolves found it difficult to carve out any meaningful chances.
City continued to patiently build but without any real end product. But it was Wolves’ substitute Carlos Forbs who nearly made an instant impact, as Tommy Doyle played him through. The winger ran at his man before delivering a low cross into the box, but it just evaded Strand Larsen.
As the game entered the final ten minutes, there was still very much all to play for Wolves, who had done a decent job of holding the reigning champions at bay, but they still needed to defend resolutely, with captain Mario Lemina putting in an important block from Foden, before Craig Dawson proved a match for Erling Haaland.
Grealish continued to ask questions from the left, and it was the England man who drew a comfortable save from Sa from his shot from the edge of the box in the final minutes as Wolves looked to secure a deserved point.
But it wasn’t to be as Stones caused heartbreak for the Old Gold when he headed home a last-gasp winner from a corner that proved to be almost the final act of the match.
Full-time | Wolves 1 Man City 2
Wolves | Sa, Semedo, Bueno, Dawson, Toti, Ait-Nouri, Andre (Doyle 45), J Gomes (Bellegarde 89), Lemina, Cunha (Forbs 66), Strand Larsen (Guedes 79).
Unused subs | Bentley, Doherty, Lima, Sarabia, R Gomes.
Man City | Ederson, Lewis, Stones, Dias, Gvardiol, Kovacic (Nunes, 85), Gundogan, Bernardo, Savinho (Grealish, 73), Doku (Foden, 66), Haaland.
Unused subs | Ortega Moreno, Carson, Ake, Akanji, O'Reilly, McAtee.
