Manchester City v Wolves: Premier League – live!

28 mins: Danilo runs into the area, whereupon he throws himself to the turf in a very obvious attempt to win a penalty. If that’s not a booking for simulation I’m not sure what the rule’s there for.

27 mins: Not as painful as it appeared, it seems. After a minute or so of treatment, Jesus leaps to his feet, jogs happily back to the half-way line and is beckoned back onto the field.

25 mins: Ouch! Again! Bernardo Silva plays Walker down the right, he slams in a hard cross and Jesus flies in at the near post, misses the chance and absolutely flies into the side of the goal, possibly via the post. He goes down, and stays there.

22 mins: Danilo shanks a 20-yarder over the bar. The traffic was pretty much entirely one-way even before Boly’s blunder, so it hasn’t really had much of an impact.

19 mins: Ouch! Boly flies in to win the ball, does so, and then keeps going right into Bernardo Silva’s ankle. I’m not sure there was any intent to harm, but it certainly looked pretty vicious, and the referee thinks it deserves a red card!

18 mins: City are absolutely dominant now. It looks very much like Wolves will look back on those two goal kicks and three throw-ins as their golden age.

16 mins: Save! David Silva’s 25-yarder flicks off a defender and would have gone in had Rui Patricio not tipped it over. The corner is headed clear (for now).

15 mins: The free-kick is cleared to Sané, who passes to Jesus and, already sprinting, speeds up. A few moments later and he’s pointing towards the precise spot inside Wolves’ penalty area where he would like the ball, and Jesus attempts to deliver it. The ball isn’t perfect and it’s intercepted, the move memorable mainly for Sané’s phenomenal length-of-the-pitch sprint.

14 mins: Walker gives the ball away and Jota leads a Wolves break – at least until Fernandinho hacks him down, with the ball long gone. That is every inch a booking, and he is indeed booked.

13 mins: This is a great stat:

11 mins: Wolves attack, and find Doherty running into the penalty area, in loads of space and with plenty of team-mates to aim for in the middle. A pull-back was the best option, but instead he wallops the ball over everybody’s heads and out for a throw-in.

And with their first attack of note, City take the lead! Laporte’s excellent pass sends Sané running down the left, and his low centre picks out Jesus in the middle, who turns it in from six yards!

8 mins: Sterling sends in a tasty cross from the right, but in the middle three Wolves defenders are able to decide amongst themselves which of them will head it clear.

7 mins: The first shot of the game comes from the right boot of Leroy Sané, and is thumped straight into Moutinho, who was closing him down.

5 mins: Describing Boly sending a limp header from a long throw looping six yards wide of goal an “opportunity for Wolves” is inexplicably positive.

4 mins: Now City have a goal kick. The game can only improve from here.

4 mins: And now two more throw-ins. They are not hurrying to take them, either.

3 mins: So far Manchester City have hardly had a kick, and when they have touched the ball they’ve put it straight out of play. Wolves have thus had two goal kicks and a throw-in.

1 min: And they’re away! Jota gets the ball rolling for Wolves.

And they’re out! Handshakes have just been completed, and kick-off is but moments away.

“That Man City bench though. Is quite intimidating,” writes Ian Copestake. “One realises what an amazing feat it is to even have a semblance of a title race.” Agüero and De Bruyne, that’s basically cheating.

Pep Guardiola talks, first about his player’s mindset:

The mindset was good for 16, 17 months. We don’t have complaints about that. The players don’t have to feel bad because they were outstanding for many, many months. All we can do is try to do our job. We cannot be involved in Liverpool’s games, only when we play each other. Focus on what we have to do, try to do our game. The opponents are good, they have a lot of points, and if you want to have a chance to compete with them until the end we have to win points.

And on Wolves:

They are doing incredible so far. Newly promoted and a lot of points and they are already in the comfortable zone and playing good football. They are a strong team on set-pieces, they’re so fast in front, they have a lot of quality in the middle. We know that.

“Hugely irritated by the brainless use of both landscape and portrait for the Wolves players photos,” says David Young. “Real blight on the game.”

It’s not a one-off, either:

Nuno Espirito Santo has a chat, about whether his players are looking forward to tonight’s match:

They are always looking forward to big challenges, and today no doubt about it it’s a big, big challenge. [Our record against the top teams] helps the work, it helps the belief, the confidence, the process of building a team ready to compete. All the matches in the Premier League are very hard and our approach is always the same. We will play against a fantastic team.

What, he’s asked, does his team need to do right tonight:

The basics in football: to be organised, disciplined and play the game.

Dressing-room watch: I do like the photographs stuck above each player’s kit cubbyhole here, just in case the name and number isn’t enough of a clue for them.

The teams are in! And here they are:

Manchester City: Ederson, Walker, Stones, Laporte, Danilo, Bernardo Silva, Fernandinho, Silva, Sterling, Gabriel Jesus, Sane. Subs: Gundogan, Aguero, De Bruyne, Delph, Mahrez, Otamendi, Muric.
Wolverhampton Wanderers: Rui Patricio, Bennett, Coady, Boly, Doherty, Dendoncker, Neves, Jonny, Joao Moutinho, Jimenez, Jota. Subs: Ivan Cavaleiro, Helder Costa, Gibbs-White, John Ruddy, Saiss, Ruben Vinagre, Traore.
Referee: Craig Pawson.

Hello world!

So the first thing to point out, which you might not have noticed during another weekend packed with, you know, hours and minutes and the kind of distractions that those things often bring, is that Liverpool won again. Their lead over Manchester City at the top of the table is currently seven points, with Tottenham nine points off the pace, Chelsea 10 points away and Arsenal and Manchester United 16 point behind and more likely to be renamed after Hogwarts houses and forced to play in deely boppers than they are to be crowned champions of England this year.

But City have a game – this game – in hand. Win it and they shave Liverpool’s lead to four points. Lose it and they don’t.

Wolves are 11th in the league and thus the calibre of opposition that Pep Guardiola’s side can be expected to routinely swat aside, but it might not be so straightforward. Of all teams outside the top six their record against the top six is best: they have won two, lost two and drawn three for a handsome nine points, one of them won against City earlier this season (there are still six teams, or 23.3% of all non-top-six sides, who have got 0 points against the top six, and only six teams who have won more than three points against them). This is more than Chelsea (eight), Tottenham (six), Arsenal (five), Manchester United (five), though obviously Wolves play more games against the top six because they are not in one of them. Wolves have won five of their last eight games in league and cup, beating Chelsea, Tottenham and Liverpool on the way.

So, in brief, this might be good. Welcome.