Wolves open the new season at Molineux this Saturday evening with Vitor Pereira’s side aiming to get off to a positive start against Manchester City, and wolves.co.uk has previewed the curtain raising fixture.
1 | Roll Call
Vitor Pereira said in Friday’s press conference that Yerson Mosquera is fit enough to feature in the squad but not start against Man City. A “few” players missed training on Thursday but are expected to be fit. David Moller Wolfe, who played his first 45 minutes for Wolves against Celta Vigo last weekend, is ready for a competitive debut, with Fer Lopez and Jhon Arias also in line for their Old Gold bows. Meanwhile, Fabio Silva is still working his way back to fitness and won’t feature this weekend.
City boss Pep Guardiola had mixed news to report to the media on Friday. Phil Foden and Rodri are both fit enough to travel to Molineux. However, defender Josko Gvardiol and midfielder Mateo Kovacic will remain in Manchester due to injury. Ederson is also out, with new signing James Trafford in line for a debut, while Savinho is also ruled out. Rayan Ait-Nouri may make his City Premier League debut back at Molineux, while Tijjani Reijnders, Rayan Cherki and Sverre Nypan could all make debuts.
2 | The Stat Pack
(2024/25, from current squads)
Goals
- Jorgen Strand Larsen | 14
- Erling Haaland | 34
Assists
- Jean-Ricner Bellegarde | 7
- Savinho | 13
Biggest win
- Wolves 3-0 Leicester City | April 2025
- Man City 8-0 Salford City | January 2025
Cards
- Joao Gomes | 11
- Bernardo Silva | 10
Clean sheets
- Jose Sa | 7
- Ederson | 11
🇳🇴⚽️ pic.twitter.com/5UmxeCwT2N
— Wolves (@Wolves) August 14, 2025
3 | Journey to Saturday
Pre-season has seen Wolves travel to Portugal and Spain, while also play three matches in the West Midlands against Championship, Ligue 1 and La Liga opposition. After two behind closed doors games against Santa Clara and Burnley, the Old Gold headed to the Bet365 Stadium to face Stoke City, before a clash with RC Lens in Walsall. A trip to Spain saw Wolves take on Girona before finishing the friendly fixtures at home to Celta Vigo last weekend in the only Molineux match of the summer.
Manchester City have only played one pre-season friendly this summer, taking on Palermo out in Italy, but that was because the 2024/25 season only finished in July after taking part in the inaugural Club World Cup. City faced three games in the group stages, claiming wins against Wydad AC from Morocco, United Arad Emirates outfit Al Ain and Italian giants Juventus. Having topped the group, City fell out of the competition at the last 16 stage with a 4-3 defeat to Ruben Neves’ Al-Hilal.
4 | Wolves on top in the first Premier League meeting
Almost 22 years ago, Wolves and Manchester City went head-to-head in the Premier League for the first time after the Old Gold joined their former Division One rivals back in the top flight, and it was a momentous occasion at Molineux as the hosts claimed their first ever win in the competition.
On a rain-swept October afternoon in the Black Country, Wolves were the brighter of the two sides and having been denied a victory late on in Bolton a week previously, Dave Jones’ side ensured they weren’t to suffer the same fate again after Colin Cameron had put his side one ahead with 15 minutes remaining.
Henri Camara floated a cross to Cameron who headed his side’s first home goal of the season, and although Michael Oakes was called upon to save the day as City laid siege in search of an equaliser, Wolves held firm to send the Molineux crowd home happy.
Wolves | Oakes, Irwin, Butler, Craddock, Naylor, Cameron, Rae, Ince, Camara (Kachloul 78), Blake, Miller (Newton 89).
Man City | Seaman, Jihai, Sommeil, Distin, Tarnat, Wright-Phillips, Bosvelt, Reyna, Sibierski (Sinclair 63), Anelka (Fowler 79), Wanchope.
