Wolverhampton Wanderers have dealt a major blow to Manchester City's hopes of winning a third successive Premier League title courtesy of a smash-and-grab 2-0 victory at the Etihad Stadium this afternoon.
The champions enjoyed 76% possession but only managed two shots on target as Wolves inflicted a first home league defeat of 2019 on Pep Guardiola's side and recorded their first top-flight win away to Man City since 1979.
The visitors, who had to wait until last weekend for their first win of the season, only had two shots on target themselves, but Adama Traore made both count with two late goals on the counter-attack to stun the Etihad.
Man City now go into the second international break of the season eight points adrift of leaders Liverpool, whose late winner against Leicester City on Saturday now looks even more important.
© Reuters
It was Wolves who enjoyed the better chances on the day as Man City struggled to find their usual rhythm in the absence of injured playmaker Kevin De Bruyne, and the first of those chances arrived within four minutes.
One long pass forward beat the entire City defence to leave Patrick Cutrone with only Ederson to beat, although the keeper was not needed in the end as the Wolves striker completely fluffed his lines and put his finish well wide of the target.
The visitors' failure to make the most of such opportunities was a theme of the first half, with Jimenez being sent through on goal on two other occasions only to first be denied by a double Fernandinho block and then take too long over his finish before unsuccessfully appealing for a penalty.
© Reuters
Ruben Vinagre also had a sight of goal in a half full of encouragement for Nuno Espirito Santo's side, whereas Man City were largely forced to settle for long-range efforts when they came forward.
A Riyad Mahrez volley was well blocked by Conor Coady and both Ilkay Gundogan and Joao Cancelo missed the target from outside the area, while the only saves Rui Patricio had to make were fairly routine ones.
Raheem Sterling's curling 25-yard strike was at a nice height for the Wolves keeper, while his footwork made a low stop from Kyle Walker's drilled effort look easy shortly before half time.
There was nothing like the attacking threat expected from a side that had scored 27 goals in their opening seven league games, though, and Guardiola turned to his bench at the break with Oleksandr Zinchenko replacing Walker.
It was more of the same in the second half too, although the introduction of Bernardo Silva from the bench on the hour mark did spark a slight improvement and the champions came within inches of breaking the deadlock moments later when David Silva's free kick crashed against the crossbar.
The danger was not over there, though, and a mini-scramble ensued during which Sergio Aguero and Sterling both saw shots blocked before David Silva volleyed over from a tight angle.
Gabriel Jesus's introduction was a final throw of the dice from Guardiola with 15 minutes remaining, and the Brazilian almost had an immediate impact when he was involved in a move which created perhaps City's best chance of the game, only for Bernardo to see his shot blocked by a mixture of Aguero and Ryan Bennett right in front of Patricio.
Man City's increasing pressure was repeatedly repelled by a titanic defensive performance, and things got even better for the visitors 10 minutes from time when they took the lead with their first shot on target.
Jimenez carried the ball forward and skipped past a rash challenge from Nicolas Otamendi before teeing up Traore, who kept his composure to slide a finish past Ederson for the opening goal.
© Reuters
With their main target now to rescue a point first and foremost, City immediately looked to respond from kickoff and Patricio had to be alert to claw away a Jesus cross which threatened to sneak in before Cancelo rippled the side-netting.
Serious scares were few and far between all afternoon, though, and with Wolves' defence refusing to budge Man City's best opportunity to restore parity saw Aguero fire wide on the turn from inside the area.
Nuno's side then made sure of the points with a second goal in the fourth minute of injury time, Jimenez again releasing Traore, who raced through on goal before finishing with aplomb past Ederson once more.
There was no time for the champions to respond as they slumped to their second defeat of the season already, failing to score in a home league game for only the second time in their last 45 such outings.
City are now eight points behind Liverpool after eight games, while Wolves, who had only won one of their last 10 away league games before today, climb to 11th following back-to-back victories.
MAN CITY (4-2-3-1): Ederson; Walker (Zinchenko 46'), Otamendi, Fernandinho, Cancelo; Gundogan, Rodri; Mahrez (Bernardo 60'), D Silva (Jesus 75'), Sterling; Aguero
WOLVES (3-5-2): Patricio; Boly, Coady, Saiss (Bennett 13'); Traore, Dendoncker, Neves, Moutinho, Vinagre (Jonny 74'); Jimenez, Cutrone (Doherty 68')
No Data Analysis info
