Manchester City vs Wolves Prediction: Citizens’ home form to continue

Manchester City earned themselves a huge victory in the race for the top five in the Premier League by defeating rivals Aston Villa at the Etihad Stadium last Tuesday. Now it is Wolverhampton Wanderers who make the trip to east Manchester, as the Citizens look to further strengthen their credentials on Friday (20:00, Sky Sports Main Event).

They face a tough test, however, as the Old Gold come into this clash off the back of six consecutive victories in the top flight as they have maintained their Premier League status comfortably. Read on for my Manchester City vs Wolves predictions, supported by the latest match odds and team news.

Football Odds

Team News

Rodri (ACL) remains City's long-term injury absentee and he is not expected to feature again until the 2025/26 season. Nathan Ake (foot), John Stones (thigh) and Erling Haaland (ankle) are the other players in the medical bay but it is hoped they will all be able to return to the squad before the end of the campaign.

Pep Guardiola made three changes to the team that beat Villa against Nottingham Forest in their FA Cup semi-final victory at Wembley, with Rico Lewis, Savinho and Jack Grealish coming into the side.

They are likely to make way for Kevin De Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan and James McAtee, who all started against Villa. Lewis was on the scoresheet against Forest so he may have pushed his way into Guardiola's thinking for Friday.

Wolves are coping with injuries to Enso Gonzalez, Leon Chiwome, Pedro Lima, Sasa Kalajdzic and Yerson Mosquera. Jean-Ricner Bellegarde was able to shake off a recent problem to make an appearance from the bench in the 3-0 victory over Leicester City on Saturday, and he will be pushing to return to the starting XI in M11.

Matheus Cunha and Jorgen Strand Larsen were both on the scoresheet against the Foxes, taking their goal tallies in the Premier League to 15 and 13 respectively, with the latter having scored six in as many matches in the top flight.

Manchester City vs Wolves Odds

Man City are 1/3 to win this match, having won four games in a row across all competitions. There is better value to be had in covering City and both teams to score because this has landed in two of the last three meetings between the teams in the Premier League. It is priced at 7/4, which has an implied probability of 36.4%.

The hosts have drawn two of their previous six games in the top flight and the stalemate is on offer at 9/2.

Wolves are 8/1 to come away with the three points, which could be a shrewd selection as they have won six league games on the bounce.

Strand Larsen has scored six goals in as many matches for the Old Gold and he is 7/2 to strike anytime.

Manchester City and both teams to score @ 7/4

City's win against Villa felt like a huge moment in their season and you could feel it from their celebrations as even Guardiola was animated. It has strengthened their chances of securing Uefa Champions League football for next term and they can put themselves in an even better position by beating Wolves on home turf.

The Citizens have been in good form in recent weeks, winning four games on the spin in all competitions, so they look in good shape to put another home victory on the board.

City have won their past three outings at the Etihad, and they have reason to be confident ahead of their clash with Wolves. The visitors will have that same feeling, however, as they are on an incredible six-game winning streak in the top flight, which highlights the excellent job Vitor Pereira has overseen since taking over the reins in December.

He has led them from five points adrift of safety to their Premier League status secured with games to spare. The Old Gold can cause problems for City on Friday night, especially with the form forward Strand Larsen is in.

However, the onus is on City here as they still have much to fight for in the final weeks of the campaign, and with the race for the top five highly congested at the moment, it feels like teams cannot afford anything less than three points.

City's players stood up and delivered against Villa and I think they can do what is required to snatch victory against Wolves, but I am backing both teams to score because the last three meetings between them have featured goals at both ends - and the visitors are of course in exquisite form.

Over 2.5 goals @ 8/15

With the way both teams are playing right now I think it's only fair to assume that we will be treated to goals on Friday. There have been at least three goals scored in two of City's last two home contests in the Premier League.

Over 2.5 goals has been a successful bet in four of Wolves' six-game winning streak in the top flight, while this was also a winning selection when the two teams met at Molineux back in October, which City won 2-1.

Offers

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