Overview
The Manchester City squad under Pep Guardiola once regained impressive form at the end of 2025 with a streak of 8 consecutive wins in all competitions. However, entering the new year, The Citizens fell into an alarming state of decline when they only won 2 in the first 7 matches and lost 2 consecutive matches in the most recent match in a bitter way.
A weakened Man City - despite still possessing many quality individuals - unexpectedly collapsed with a score of 1-3 against Bodo/Glimt in the Champions League. This defeat forced the English representative to make maximum efforts in the final round to avoid the risk of falling into the play-off group.
To soothe fans after the disappointing performance, Man City's board of directors jointly raised about £10,000 to refund tickets to all fans of the away team going to Norway to cheer. According to the club's message, this is the minimum thing to do after an unacceptable result.
3 days earlier, Guardiola's army also suffered a completely convincing 0-2 defeat to arch-rival Manchester United in the Premier League. This defeat extended Man City's winning streak in the highest league in England to four (3 draws, 1 loss). Arsenal - the direct championship contender - is currently widening the gap to 7 points when the season is only 16 rounds away.
Guardiola admits that things are not going smoothly for his fragile team at the moment. However, the Spanish strategist still has reason to be optimistic before welcoming Wolves. Man City has won 10 out of 11 recent encounters with this opponent in the Premier League, scoring a total of 32 goals.
To avoid experiencing a 5-match unbeaten streak in the Premier League for the first time since the 2009-2010 season, Man City still possesses extremely impressive statistics against the bottom teams in the group. Specifically, they are unbeaten in the last 30 matches against bottom teams (24 wins, 6 draws), and have won all 9 recent home matches with an overwhelming score of 36-0.
In the opposite direction, Wolves were once considered a near-certain relegation candidate. And that may still be true. However, 2026 has brought rare positive signals to coach Rob Edwards and his students, as they are unbeaten in the last 4 rounds of the Premier League (1 win, 3 draws).
This series of matches helped the "Wolfs" win 6 points - double the points they accumulated in the previous 22 matches (0 wins, 3 draws, 19 losses). In the most recent round, Wolves drew with Newcastle goalless at Molineux Stadium, after encouraging results against Everton (1-1), West Ham (3-0) and Man United (1-1).
However, Wolves understand that they are not allowed to stagnate if they still have hope of relegation. The yellow-black team is currently still at the bottom of the Premier League table, 14 points behind the safe zone in the context of only 16 rounds left in the season. Notably, in 6 of the next 9 matches they have to face teams in the top half of the table.
Despite improved form, the attacking problem is still Wolves' biggest concern. They have only scored 16 goals in the Premier League this season and are also the team with the most goals conceded (11 matches).
Entering the away match at Etihad, Wolves have only won 5 in their last 23 encounters with Man City in the Premier League (2 draws, 16 losses). Their only victory at this stadium took place in October 2019, when Adama Traore scored a late double to help Wolves win 2-0.
The match between Man City and Wolves takes place at 10:00 PM on January 24 (Vietnam time).
