Wolves are looking to bounce back from a dismal showing against Stoke City in the EFL cup by securing another three Premier League points against Manchester City.
Last season, the Wolfpack did the double over Pep Guardiola’s side, winning 0-2 at the Etihad Stadium and then 3-2 at Molineux.
Wolves head into tonight’s clash at Molineux having just sold Diogo Jota, but will hope to catch City cold with the 2020 EFL Cup winners making a belated start to their Premier League campaign.
Here’s how Nuno Espirito Santo may set up:
Goalkeeper
Rui Patricio will come back into the side after sitting out the defeat to Stoke.
Defence
Willy Boly, Conor Coady and Romain Saiss have been pretty formidable in recent times and are undoubtedly the best trio equipped for dealing with the likes of Raheem Sterling and Gabriel Jesus.
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Midfield
Adama Traore has caused City a lot of damage in the past and there will be strong temptation for Nuno to stick him right up top with Raul Jimenez. But the manager needs to think about how to keep Sterling quiet, and a leash may need to be kept on Traore’s attacking tendencies to begin with. Throwing young Oskar Buur in may be too risky.
Leander Dendoncker and Joao Moutinho‘s partnership against Sheffield United was solid and should be the go-to, and Fernando Marcal has earned the right to continue on the left.
The Belgian should be the player to man-mark his fellow countryman Kevin De Bruyne.
Attack
The attacking trident of Pedro Neto, Daniel Podence and Raul Jimenez was exciting to watch against Sheffield United, especially in the first half.
Nuno ought to choose them all from the start again, and perhaps consider moving Traore further forwards later on if the team is struggling to make a breakthrough.
Nuno will be hoping to see Podence perhaps cause the kind of damage Traore has in previous games. The £60,000-a-week Portuguese (Spotrac) is certainly looking livelier with each game.
3-4-3: Patricio/Boly, Coady, Saiss/Traore, Dendoncker, Moutinho, Marcal/Neto, Jimenez, Podence.