Wolves, while slightly fortunate to get the draw against Manchester City, gave a good account of themselves with a less passive defensive plan than other teams have attempted to use against City.

The newly promoted side in their 5-4-1 defensive shape attempted to defend in a mid-block rather than be forced back into their own box for long spells. The central and wide midfielders for Wolves would tighten around the halfspaces to try to prevent City from accessing these directly from Fernandinho or the centre-backs. The way in which they staggered themselves meant that the passing lanes for City to reach the halfspaces were small or non-existent. In order to receive the ball then, City’s #8s Gundogan and Silva, often found themselves having to pull into wide positions or drop deep to escape the cover shadows of the Wolves midfield.

City’s structure was similar to that seen against Huddersfield last week. Walker came into the side in place of Stones, and while he did form a three-chain with Kompany and Laporte at times, especially with the ball on the left, he also acted wider at times than Stones had, and made the occasional, now trademark late overlapping run from deep. Sterling replaced Gabriel Jesus from the team that faced Huddersfield, and occupied the left halfspace primarily, while also drifting into the centre to become the tip of a midfield diamond.

Sterling’s aforementioned inside-left role was actually key in helping City attack down the left side, where, for all of Wolves’ good work against the ball, City were able to find advantages early in the game. Below a couple of scenes leading to shots from this early period will be examined: