City make four changes for Wolves visit, Haaland named on bench | OneFootball

Ederson, Kevin De Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan and Jeremy Doku all return to the starting eleven with Erling Haaland named on the bench as City make four changes for Friday’s Premier League visit of Wolves.

From the side that started last Sunday’s 2-0 FA Cup semi-final victory over Nottingham Forest, Stefan Ortega Moreno, Rico Lewis, Savinho and Jack Grealish all revert to the bench.

Ederson, De Bruyne, Gundogan and Doku all come into Pep Guardiola’s starting eleven on a night that also sees Bernardo Silva set to chalk up his 400th appearance for City.

Meanwhile centre forward Haaland also makes a welcome return to the matchday squad for the first time since being forced off through injury in our FA Cup sixth round win at Bournemouth at the end of March and starts on the bench.

Teams

CITY XI: Ederson, Nunes, Dias, Gvardiol, O’Reilly, Kovacic, Gundogan, De Bruyne (C), Bernardo, Doku, Marmoush.

Subs: Ortega, Haaland, Grealish, Nico, Akanji, Savinho, Foden, Lewis, McAtee.

WOLVES XI: Sa, Semedo, Doherty, Agbadou, Toti Gomes, Ait-Nouri, Joao Gomes, Andre, Munetsi, Bellegard, Cunha.

Subs: Bentley, Bueno, Hwang, R. Gomes, Doyle, Sarabia, Guedes, Dijga, Lima

WATCH: Memorable Moments: City v Wolves

Likely tactics

Ederson returns to the starting line-up in goal and will be shielded by a now familiar back four of Matheus Nunes, Ruben Dias, Josko Gvardiol and Nico O’Reilly.

Mateo Kovacic will be the holding figure in midfield with skipper De Bruyne and Gundogan also deployed in the engine room.

Meanwhile, Bernardo, Omar Marmoush and Doku are set to form City’s attacking trident.

However, such is the tactical flexibility within Pep’s squad that formation could be liable to change as the evening wears on.

Special K

Tonight marks the penultimate home fixture for City legend Kevin De Bruyne, who confirmed last month that he will be departing the Club this summer after a quite magnificent 10 years at the Etihad.

The visit of Wolves could well prompt happy memories for the Belgian playmaker as he boasts a quite superb record against the men from the Black Country.

From his decade to date at the Club, Kevin De Bruyne has been involved in 10 goals in just nine league appearances against Wolves, scoring five and setting up five more.

Let's hope the great man can conjure up some more magic moments tonight.

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Upwardly mobile

With just four Premier League games remaining this season, City will kick off this evening lying in fourth place in the table on 61 points with the race to seal a top-five place – and with it qualification into next season’s Champions League – still on a knife edge.

However, the mathematics are deliciously simple – if City win all our remaining games we will secure our place in the upper echelons and with it a ticket to top tier European football again.

That said, tonight will present another formidable challenge.

Wolves come into the game on the back of six straight Premier League wins with the Molineux side having been completely transformed since the arrival of Vitor Pereira as manager at the turn of the year.

That 18-point haul has played a big part in lifting Wolves up into 13th place in the table and serves as another reminder – if any were needed - of the ferocious challenge that every game in the Premier League throws up.

400 up for Bernardo

Tonight’s appearance will represent a huge notable landmark for Bernardo Silva as it will see our Portuguese midfielder chalk up his 400th appearance for City.

In the process the playmaker will become just the 16th player to achieve that feat – and it's fair to say that in the near eight years since moving to the Etihad he has established himself as one of the most decorated and widely admired players to represent the club.

A haul of 18 major trophies speaks volumes to as his enormous contribution in that time - but that incredible silverware only scratches at the impact and influence Bernardo has brought to bear on City.

His footballing intelligence, talent, technique, energy and eye for goal have combined to make him one of the finest signings in the Club’s history.

He also becomes the first player to hit the 400 tally during Pep’s City reign – another testament to the esteem with which he is held.

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Match stats

City are unbeaten in eight matches in all competitions, with six victories and two draws.

We are aiming to win five matches in a row for only the second time this season, having done so in October.

The 11 goals scored by Josko Gvardiol in all competitions since the start of last season is the joint most by a Premier League defender along with Newcastle's Fabian Schar.

This is City's first Premier League home game on a Friday since Boxing Day 2008.

Wolves have earned 10 top-flight wins since Vitor Pereira's first league fixture in charge on 22 December, behind only Liverpool (14) and Newcastle (12).

The 32 points they have earned since Pereira's appointment is 13 more than the combined total of the bottom three across that time.

Pereira's 55.6% Premier League win percentage is the best of any Wolves manager.

Matheus Cunha's 15 goals and six assists is the second highest goal involvements by a Wolves player in a Premier League season behind Raul Jimenez's 23 in 2019-20.