Wolves v Manchester City preview: Adama Traore could start for hosts

Adama Traore is in line for his first Wolves start against Manchester City on Saturday, live on Sky Sports.

Traore joined Wolves for a club-record fee in the summer and made his debut at half-time in the 2-0 defeat to Leicester last weekend.

Wolves stormed to the Championship title last season but have picked up one point from their opening two Premier League matches.

They did manage to hold Manchester City over 120 minutes in the Carabao Cup last season, becoming the first team to stop them scoring when they drew 0-0 at the Etihad in October.

That result came after Wolves adopted a defensive approach, but head coach Nuno Espirito Santo has suggested they will be more attacking this weekend.

Live Premier League

"We don't know how to play another way. There are two ways to react to Leicester, we react by changing or not. We will not change because we want to build something.

"It's important we keep doing the same thing we train to do as we want to achieve.

"Adapt, of course, because you are facing a good team, but don't change. When you build something you have to truly believe in what you're doing."

City have started the season in impressive fashion as they won 2-0 at Arsenal on the opening day and then thrashed Huddersfield 6-1.

They have suffered a couple of injury setbacks, though, with midfielder Kevin De Bruyne out for three months and second-choice goalkeeper Claudio Bravo facing a spell out after rupturing an Achilles tendon.

Bravo's injury has seen City recall Aro Muric from his loan at NAC Breda and the 19-year-old could be on the bench this weekend.

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Team news

Manchester City midfielder Fernandinho has recovered from a minor knock but De Bruyne (knee) and Danilo (ankle) are out.

Nuno could hand a full debut to Traore while midfielder Leander Dendoncker is close to full fitness after arriving from
Anderlecht in the summer.

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Opta stats

• Wolves were one of only two teams that Manchester City faced in the 2017-18 season without scoring, drawing 0-0 in October 2017 in a League Cup tie (the other were Wigan Athletic).
• In the last two seasons when the previous year's Championship winner has faced the reigning Premier League champion at home in the Premier League, the former has won the match (Burnley 1-0 Leicester City in 2016-17 and Newcastle United 3-0 Chelsea in 2017-18).
• Manchester City have lost only one of their last 29 Premier League games against newly promoted teams (W22 D6 L1), losing 0-1 at Burnley in March 2015 under Manuel Pellegrini. Under Pep Guardiola, they have yet to lose a Premier League match versus a newly promoted team (W9 D3).
• Manchester City are looking to become the first reigning Premier League champions to win their first three games of the season since rivals Manchester United managed to do so at the beginning of the 2011-12 campaign.
• Manchester City have won each of their last seven Premier League away games by an aggregate score of 18-3, with Raheem Sterling having a hand in seven of these goals (3 goals, 4 assists) - more than any other City player.
• Manchester City forward Gabriel Jesus has yet to lose in any of the 18 Premier League games in which he has scored (W17 D1). Only Carlos Tevez (39) and Raheem Sterling (27) have netted in more Premier League matches for Manchester City without ending on the losing side.

Merson's prediction

It hasn't been a great start for Wolves results-wise. They've been unlucky in both games, but they're likely to end up with one point from three games.

I can't see anything but a Man City win. I think Wolves have played some good football, and shouldn't be disheartened by the start, they've done alright. It's hard to look solely at performances if you're a fan, and you'd rather have nine points with three bad performances than one point from three good performances.

City look relentless, completely unbelievable. I thought they might take some time to get going after the World Cup, but they're the only team who can rest a load of players and beat the lesser teams comfortably. If Liverpool played Huddersfield at home and left out Mo Salah and Sadio Mane, I think they'd struggle if I'm honest.

PAUL PREDICTS: 1-3 (9/1 with Sky Bet)

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