Manchester City got back to winning ways in the Premier League as they beat Wolverhampton Wanderers at the Etihad Stadium. Omar Marmoush and Antoine Semenyo scored the goals as City, who were on a five game winless streak in the Premier League and UEFA Champions League, ended it against a Wolves side who remain rooted […]
Manchester City got back to winning ways in the Premier League as they beat Wolverhampton Wanderers at the Etihad Stadium.
Omar Marmoush and Antoine Semenyo scored the goals as City, who were on a five game winless streak in the Premier League and UEFA Champions League, ended it against a Wolves side who remain rooted to the bottom of the Premier League – seven points below 19th place Burnley.
Here are three things we learned from City’s first league victory of 2026:
The attack is more fluid without Haaland
And no, don’t read that as City being a better team without Erling Haaland. But you can’t see that the attack didn’t look better than it has been in recent weeks.
The positioning of Marmoush and Semenyo as inside forwards occupied the minds of both Wolves’s wingbacks and outside centre backs, meaning there was space in the wide areas for Matheus Nunes and Nico O’Reilly at full back and spaces in the pockets for Rayan Cherki and Tijjani Reijnders, the two number tens.
I’ve previously said Marmoush is an excellent player who suits a very specific role (operating not quite as a striker, left winger or a number ten, but something inbetween,) and against Rob Edwards’s side, he played well in that position.
The job for Pep Guardiola now is finding a way to keep the fluid rotations in attacking areas but with Haaland in the team as well.
He may have now got just the one goal in his last nine City appearances, but with the attack functioning around him he’s still by far the best striker in the Premier League and carried City through the start of the season with goals.
It’d be foolish to drop him completely, and I think the City boss will be searching for ways to get Haaland into the same team as a fluid attacking unit.
Semenyo and Guehi is excellent January business
It’s undeniable that Semenyo has made a big difference to City’s attacking prowess in his opening few games at the club, and based on his debut, it appears Marc Guehi will have the same effect on the defence.
The former Crystal Palace captain is composure personified. He’s extremely comfortable on the ball and is totally unflappable defensively. He was neither outmuscled or outpaced by a forward throughout the game, and made a great block at the end of a very solid first game.
Semenyo, meanwhile, is proving himself to have a real eye for a goal, with three in his first four wearing sky blue.
Not just that, but he’s a much more well rounded player than he’s given credit for. He’s a good dribbler, has an eye for a pass and offers a threat running in behind with his pace and strength.
Both had excellent first halves of the season at Palace and Bournemouth, and City are being proven to have made the right decision to buy them in January with the form they’re showing on the pitch right now.
Nunes makes a huge difference to the team when fit
It was great to see Matheus Nunes back in the starting XI.
The converted full back missed the disastrous games against Manchester United and Bodo Glimt and as demonstrated by his performance against his former side, was perhaps more sorely missed than many deemed he would be.
The Portuguese international is certainly City’s best option when taking all things needed into consideration to be a good fullback.
He’s fast, strong, a good one vs one defender and offers a great attacking threat. Even his bozo moments that haunted him last season are becoming fewer and further between.
The likes of Givario Read, Tino Livramento and even Trent Alexander-Arnold continue to be linked with City, but right now it’s difficult to argue that Nunes wouldn’t start over any of them.
Category: General Sports
