Five Things Learned: Wolves 0-4 Manchester City (Premier League) | OneFootball

Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City got their 2025/26 Premier League campaign off to a flying start with a statement 0-4 victory over Wolves at Molineux on Saturday evening.

In the early stages, a new look Sky Blues outfit struggled in part as, despite having the lion’s share of the ball, they were unable to really get a foothold in the game with the home side looking increasingly threatening especially down the flanks.

In fact Manchester City would have trailed in the contest as Marshall Munetsi poked past James Trafford in the 26th minute, but thanks to a sharp offside trap from Pep Guardiola’s men, the flag was up in due course to restore parity.

All the work Wolves had put in soon crumbled, however, and Manchester City’s quality shone through, producing a three-minute double that was simply too much for the home side to handle.

The first came from – you guessed it – Erling Haaland as a delicate ball over the top of the defence from Tijjani Reijnders found Rico Lewis, who expertly pulled across for the Norwegian, enabling him to tap home routinely, getting off the mark in the new campaign.

The second was of a different nature, as Oscar Bobb seized upon a loose ball and set Manchester City on the counter immediately, playing the ball through to the man of the moment, Tijjani Reijnders. The midfielder fired a superb finish into the far corner, and out of perhaps nothing, Manchester City had a 0-2 lead at the break.

After the interval, all the Blues had to do was defend well, and they would earn the three points, but the two-goal cushion wasn’t enough for the away side, who wanted to extend their deficit further. Just after the hour mark, they got their wish, and the fixture was put beyond all reasonable doubt via a quite sublime team goal.

Starting with Manchester City’s number one pinging an excellent ball to Reijnders in the middle of the park, who then played the ball out wide to Bobb before receiving it back and playing in Erling Haaland, with the Norwegian smashing home past Jose Sá.

The cherry on the cake came from rising star Rayan Cherki, who didn’t take long to hit the ground running from the bench, as the Frenchman – after a neat exchange with Nico O’Reilly – found the bottom corner with splendid accuracy less than seven minutes after being introduced.

A perfect end to a five-star display, Manchester City’s new faces well and truly announced themselves in English football. Here are Five Things We Learned from an imperious City performance on the 2025/2026 campaign’s opening weekend!

Tijjani Reijnders… WOW!

As far as Premier League debuts go, it doesn’t get much better than that absolutely sensational one from Tijjani Reijnders.

For Manchester City, you may go as far as to say that it compared to the likes of Erling Haaland against West Ham in 2022, or even the great Sergio Agüero in 2011 against Swansea. The Dutchman was nothing short of exceptional.

Not just for his goal but also for his passing, positioning, box-crashing runs, vision, and overall incredible play. Reijnders looked as if he had been playing in the side week in week out for months and immediately settled into the system, reminiscent of a younger İlkay Gündoğan.

The thing is, this is just the beginning, and for Tijjani Reijnders and this Manchester City side, all we can hope is this team further develops. When it does, it is certain that the Blues’ No.4 will be at the very heart of it. Pep Guardiola and his staff have a player on their hands, and he will be a problem for the rest of the league.

Not only is he a top player, but the finances of the deal make it seem an even better signing; just £34 million for one of the most talented midfielders in Serie A in the economy of modern football is sensational business.

Hugo Viana behind the scenes and Tijjani Reijnders on the pitch should both take a bow!

Erling Haaland: Inevitable

Opening day of the Premier League season, of course Manchester City’s No.9 was going to get on the scoresheet. Was there ever any doubt?

Two well-taken goals and a brilliant finish for his second to put City 0-3 up. Despite not having very many touches of the football, unsurprisingly, the Norwegian’s fingerprints were all over the game, as his goals were vital in helping City over the line in an opening day demolition.

Four seasons in sky blue, seven opening day goals. The talisman demands his moment, and his moment arrives, again and again. Haaland has now found the net in all four opening day league fixtures and has now scored more goals against Wolves (10) than any other side he has faced in English football whilst also becoming the player to score the most league goals under Pep Guardiola for Manchester City, surpassing both Sergio Agüero and Raheem Sterling.

After a season labelled by the media as “poor” for Erling Haaland last campaign despite netting 22 league goals, it will be interesting to see just how well the Blues’ main man performs this season in the new revamped Manchester City side.

Oscar Bobb is special

In just the third Premier League start of his Manchester City career, Academy graduate and fan favourite Oscar Bobb most definitely delivered. The work ethic was relentless both on and off the ball; he looked a constant threat to the Wolves’ back line with his quick feet and tidy dribbling.

He was incredibly exciting and refreshing to watch, always looking to press high and put his side on the front foot, which he was rewarded for through winning the ball and playing a great pass to Tijjani Reijnders for the second goal, which registered as an assist.

Bobb also completed the most dribbles of any player (3) and completed 94 per cent of his 31 passes. But you don’t need to look at statistics or numbers to realise that the sky is the limit for this budding starlet and that Premier League fans need to keep an eye on Oscar Bobb.

His game time was massively hindered in such unfortunate circumstances last campaign due to the leg fracture picked up in training, which led to him missing most of the season. Hopefully, however, now that he’s back fit and firing, we get to see some more of City’s No.52 because in the modicum of minutes he has played, he has looked promising, to say the least.

Has James Trafford given Pep Guardiola a dilemma?

Manchester City’s No.1 made his long-awaited Premier League debut for the Blues on Saturday evening and slotted in seamlessly. The Englishman looked calm, capable, assured and dealt with everything he was tested with without issue, producing some good saves, showing great command of his area as well as – perhaps most importantly in a Pep Guardiola system – top-class distribution, which certainly had a hand in the third goal.

This begs the question: with Ederson still number one choice despite missing out through illness amid links to Galatasaray, and with speculation heating up around Gianluigi Donnarumma, has Trafford’s convincing debut done enough to put him in contention for the number one spot?

A flawless debut for James Trafford and a clean sheet from the 22-year-old is the best thing you can ask of a goalkeeper. So whatever happens with the goalkeeper situation, with the £27 million man ready to step in, City are in safe hands.

A promising start

Now, it’s important not to get too overexcited or complacent as it’s still very early on; there are still cracks in this side. The performance was not perfect, but it was most definitely positive.

Aside from minor defensive issues in the early stages, Manchester City looked relatively comfortable, were much more tenacious with their pressing and looked more threatening in attacking areas – a marked improvement from the poor standards of last campaign.

The team cohesion is only going to grow as the season progresses and the new faces integrate, so it will certainly be interesting to see just how well this side develops under the always reliable tutelage of Pep Guardiola.

Obviously it is far too early to judge if this rebuilt City can challenge Liverpool to wrestle back their title, but that is most definitely the aim of the players and staff. There is an air of optimism around the club at the moment, and if they wish to challenge for the Premier League trophy, the Blues have started the campaign in the right way!