Within five minutes in the second half, Sterling completed his brace and almost won the match for City, but Wolves had other plans.
Manchester City's English midfielder Raheem Sterling (C) keeps an eye on the ball during the English Premier League football match between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Manchester City at the Molineux stadium in Wolverhampton, central England on December 27, 2019. (Photo by Paul ELLIS / AFP)
Wolves on Friday bounced back from a 0-2 scoreline to stun Manchester City 3-2 at Molineux Stadium.
With the loss, City’s chances of defending their title by beating Liverpool looks bleak. City are currently placed at the third position with 38 points from 19 matches, while the Reds lead the table with 52 points and have a game in hand. Meanwhile, Leicester City are second with one point more than Pep Guardiola’s men.
However, the win saw Wolves climbing to 5th place with 30 points while becoming only the second team in any league to prevail in a season series against Man City, having defeated them on October 6 in Manchester with a 2-0 scoreline.
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Wolves’ Conor Coady got a ball to Diogo Joto behind the City defence, prompting a desperate Ederson to rush to the edge of the area in bid to deny the striker.
Missing the ball, the City keeper brought down Joto and was sent off with a red card for denying a goal-scoring opportunity. However, they were City who drew the first blood in the 25th minute.
Leander Dendoncker fouled City’s Riyad Mahrez in the area and while the referee initially declined to award a penalty, he reversed himself based on VAR.
Raheem Sterling took the spot kick, but Wolves goalie Rui Patricio made the stop and Coady cleared the ball. But the VAR intervened yet again, as Coady had encroached the areas which rewarded City a second kick. Patricio turned aside Sterling’s second shot as well, but this time the City striker did well to net the rebound to make it 1-0 for the visitors.
Within five minutes in the second half, Sterling completed his brace and almost won the match for City, but Wolves had other plans.
In the 55th minute, Adama Traore scored a sensational goal to begin the hosts’ fight-back. Raul Jimenez, in the 82nd minute, scored the equalizer, and it was Matt Doherty, who gave sealed the game in favour of Wolves in the waning minutes.
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