Wolves show five ways to avoid being beaten by Manchester City this season

Wolves 1-1 Manchester City: Nuno Espirito Santo showed that with the crowd behind you and a fearless approach, playing the champions doesn't have to be a humiliating experience

Wolves celebrate their fortunate opener by Wolly Boly (AFP/Getty Images)

Manchester City may well run away with the title once more this season, but in their draw at Molineux Wolves reminded the Premier League that it is possible to avoid being one of the many sides trampled en route, as Huddersfield mercilessly were last weekend.

Here are a few key learnings:

1) Be fearless

This isn’t easy against one of the best sides in Europe but it was demonstrated, in quite differing circumstances, by both Bristol City and Liverpool last season: each showed a fearlessness to press City high up the pitch and neither were deterred from their plan when they conceded goals. Here Wolves started with a similar front-foot approach, harrying high for spells in the first half and retreating into a more compact block in the second. There were several shaky moments in the opening 45 minutes when instinct might have dictated a retreat, but the hosts stuck to Nuno Espirito Santo’s blueprint and City were eventually rattled.

2) Feed the crowd

There was a moment towards the end of the first half when Helder Costa burst down the right, somehow outsprinting and outmuscling the ludicrously quick and strong Benjamin Mendy, before cutting inside to tee up a teammate’s shot. Molineux roared and for a couple of moments afterwards City had something of a minor wobble, culminating in a bizarre foul throw by Mendy. Every slip by the largely immaculate visitors was heartily cheered and it fed into Wolves’ growing confidence on the pitch. Admittedly, this one is trickier to pull off at the Etihad.

3) Destroy the counter-attack

Manchester City did an underrated job of crushing counter-attacks last season, Fernandinho skating across the pitch to offer a sly trip or innocent body check, tip-toeing the line between ticking off and booking like an art form. This must be deployed in reverse in order to attack City without being torn apart seconds later, and Wolves played it to perfection. Ryan Bennett gracelessly leapt in front of one of Ederson’s rapier kicks in the first-half, while Joao Moutinho used all his experience to clatter Raheem Sterling before looking sincerely apologetic shortly before half-time, and City’s counter-punching never got going.

Wolves defended doggedly when City broke forwards (AFP/Getty Images)

4) Pray for goalkeeping inspiration

However dogged the defending, a flurry of shots will inevitably get through and they won’t be any old shots, but usually Sergio Aguero shots. Here Rui Patricio made two exceptional saves, first flinging himself across goal to keep out Sterling’s top-corner-bound volley before later stopping Gabriel Jesus from point-blank range. Put simply, the player rating next to the goalkeeper must be an 8 or 9 to avoid defeat.

5) Earn some luck

When the goalkeeper is beaten, the woodwork needs to come to the rescue and at Molineux the post denied Aguero’s low effort in the first half which would have drastically altered the game’s complexion. At the other end Willy Boly scored with his hand, something not picked by the officials nor seemingly any City defenders, and while it should have been ruled out, perhaps it was a moment of fortune which Wolves’s committed performance deserved.