Whether Manchester City restore their powers as the Premier League’s formidable force after a summer of change remains one of the great unknowns but for Pep Guardiola the early evidence in victory at Wolves was supremely encouraging. The substitute Rayan Cherki, a £30m signing from Lyon, capped the scoring within eight minutes of entering and Tijjani Reijnders, another one of those pinpointed to drive the close-season makeover, was peerless on his league debut; the Netherlands midfielder was the architect for Erling Haaland’s double, which bookended Reijnders’s first City goal, a feathery first-time finish. “City are back,” crooned the away support and, by the end, it was hard to argue otherwise.
Guardiola, understandably, is not getting carried away. “Last season we were back when we won 2-0 at Chelsea [in our first game] and look what happened afterwards,” the City manager said. “We won [just] today. If you told me we were back in the second half, I’d say no.” City were clinical, scoring with all four shots on target, all of which were easy on the eye, even if Haaland’s first was a tap-in at the end of a move that began with the kind of Reijnders burst that may become commonplace. City had the swagger that has accompanied so much of their success. The injured pair of Rodri and Phil Foden, looking on from the stands, must have pondered where they will fit in.
The most moving moment of the match probably came a few minutes after the final whistle, when Rúben Dias and Bernardo Silva, City’s new captain, stood before the South Bank to join Wolves’ players and head coach, Vítor Pereira, in applauding the home fans singing Diogo Jota’s name on loop. Sasa Kalajdzic, an unused substitute, rested his No 18 shirt, which Jota wore during three successful years at Molineux after signing from Porto, on the edge of the box in remembrance.
After a stodgy start, City established a comfortable buffer after registering two goals in three first-half minutes. Reijnders is tall and lean and his powerful run was the catalyst for the opener, sidestepping João Gomes before scooping the ball into Rico Lewis, the full-back wanted by Nottingham Forest, who instantly squared for Haaland. City’s No 9 could not miss from a couple of yards out, applying the finish with just his sixth touch, maintaining his perfect goalscoring record on the opening day of the season.
It was a slick move but the second stemmed from a loose Emmanuel Agbadou pass, meant for João Gomes. Oscar Bobb, a surprise starter, pinched possession and suddenly it was three v two, Haaland to his right, Reijnders to his left. Bobb slipped in Reijnders and he caressed the ball low into the bottom corner past the Wolves goalkeeper José Sá.
The galling thing for Wolves, for whom this was a demoralising result to match the mood music at Molineux, was that City’s goals came just as it seemed Pereira’s side were asserting their authority. Marshall Munetsi saw a header ruled out for offside, seconds after John Stones made a brilliant block to deny Jørgen Strand Larsen. Strand Larsen, Norway teammates with Haaland, side-footed wide within a minute of the restart and later thrashed an effort goalwards under pressure from the former Wolves defender Rayan Aït-Nouri but James Trafford enjoyed a near-faultless debut. Pereira was disappointed but not deflated. “I didn’t lose my smile because each mistake that we committed, they punished us with a goal,” said the Wolves head coach. “I will take good things from the game.”
This was an emotionally supercharged occasion for Wolves, who paid tribute to Jota with a moving pre-match tribute. It was a surreal sight to see the entire ground glued to the big screens as a montage played 15 minutes before kick-off. There was a giant tifo of Jota celebrating in old gold stretched across the South Bank and the speakers played Jota’s favourite song, Sting’s Fields of Gold. Sa and the defender Matt Doherty both played with Jota, the former at international level. Rui Fuste, Wolves’s long-serving head of medical, attended both Jota’s wedding and his funeral 13 days later.
Haaland had eliminated any hopes of a Wolves comeback just after the hour. Reijnders controlled a long Trafford kick close to halfway and pressed forward purposefully. Then, after a give and go with Bobb, Reijnders showed awareness to cut the ball back for Haaland just inside the box. This time Haaland still had work to do but he cannoned a powerful shot low under Sá. It was another cute move but Cherki’s strike was perhaps the pick of the bunch. Cherki, who turns 22 on Sunday, backheeled Nico González’s pass to fool an overzealous João Gomes, played a one-two with the substitute Nico O’Reilly and promptly threaded a low shot into the bottom corner.
