Erling Holand’s poker allowed Manchester City to crush Wolverhampton 5-1 and reduce the gap from Arsenal leading the Premier League to one point.
Compared to the 2-0 victory over Nottingham Forest, Mateo Kovacic, Phil Foden and Erling Holand returned to the starting line-up of the “citizens”.
The Wolves had only one change in the start. Instead of Matt Docherty, Hugo Bueno appeared.
The match began with the onslaught of City, while Wolverhampton went into a blind defense and did not even try to respond with their attacks.
And already in the 10th minute, the guests faltered. Trying to hit the ball bouncing off the lawn, Josko Guardiol collided with Ryan Ait-Nuri, and referee Craig Pawson awarded a penalty. Holand did not miss from the 11-meter mark — 1-0.
Then the “citizens” slowed down somewhat, began to threaten Jose Sa’s goal less often and even allowed their opponent to hold the ball.
But a good stretch in the performance of the Wolves was crowned by a goal they conceded in the 35th minute. Rhodri threw the ball to the far corner of the goalkeeper’s square, and there Holand struck with his head — 2-0.
At the end of the first half, Nelson Semeda disrupted Holand’s one—on-one exit, hitting Erling from behind on the legs, but the VAR system restored justice, and the victim himself realized a penalty – 3:0.
Shortly after the start of the second half, Ederson could not fully stop the overhang from the flank, thanks to which Hwang Hee Chang shot the goal — 3:1.
City’s response was immediate. Foden made a forward pass from his half of the field to Holand, who entered the penalty area, got rid of the custody of Mac Kilman and shot 4-1.
In the rest of the match, the “citizens” played for fun, creating a number of good moments. In the 85th minute, the Wolves still conceded the fifth goal. It was substitute Julian Alvarez who burst into the penalty area and rolled the ball into the goal — 5-1.
Wolverhampton showed nothing in attack, except for Hwang’s goal. City won a rather mundane victory without even playing at full strength.
Manchester City — Wolverhampton. Match Report