Six league wins on the bounce after the weekend win over Wolverhampton Wonderers, Manchester City maintain their lead at the top of the Premier League summit right after the result that saw them leapfrog Chelsea.
Raheem Sterling’s penalty helped City to a 1-0 win over Wolves and extend their winning run in the league to six games. (Photo by Matt McNulty – Manchester City/Manchester City FC via Getty Images)
The starting eleven at the Ethiad in the Saturday’s early kickoff missed the likes of Phil Foden, Riyad Mahrez, Jack Grealish, Kyle Walker and others, but City never looked like slowing down, even though the goal did not come easy despite their dominance.
Raheem Sterling’s second half penalty was enough to seal the maximum points, which will be much to the relief of Pep Guardiola, who saw his side win by a goal margin for the third time in their six games winning run in the league.
With the likes of Chelsea and Liverpool also winning over the weekend, getting a win against Wolves, who are one of the teams known to prove very difficult opposition for the Citizens in recent years. Even if City did the double over them last season, they were responsible for City losing the league the season before, winning both home and away against Pep Guardiola side.
City maintain their lead heading into the turn of the calendar year, in which they will not be facing any of the top four teams until Chelsea visit the Ethiad in mid January, when Thomas Tuchel side will have a couple of their players already playing in the AFCON.
It put the defending Champions in a great position, while also knowing their rivals will have players heading for the African Cup of Nations in next month, hence missing a couple of crucial games.
The Citizens have only Riyad Mahrez leaving for the African continental cup, a departure which will not be a major blow for Pep Guardiola but an avenue to have his player play games, rather than being seated or giving him a selection headache.
The early season imbalance has been put to bed while those tagged favourites alongside the Citizens have assumed and exited the league summit much to the delight of City, who now hold the advantage, along with the form required of a genuine title contender.
Author: Afolabi Kehinde Hassan
