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Aguero and Tevez celebrate the opener. Tim Hales/AP/Press Association Images
AS IT HAPPENED

As it happened: Wolves v Manchester City, Premier League

Roberto Mancini’s men were eager to take full advantage of United’s slip-up as they sought three points at Molineux.

AN EIGHT GOAL thriller unfolded at Old Trafford earlier as the league battle took a plethora of twists and turns. City pressed for three points from the outset and Wolves needed a win to stave off relegation.

As always, we’d love to hear your thoughts on the game. E-mail ganz11@campus.ie, tweet @thescore_iepost a message to our Facebook wall, or leave a comment below.

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Wolves 0-2 Manchester City

Good afternoon. Here we go – players are in the tunnel. Team news …

Man City: Hart, Zabaleta, Kompany, Lescott, Clichy, Silva, Toure Yaya, Barry, Nasri, Tevez, Aguero.

Subs: Pantilimon, Milner, Dzeko, Johnson, Kolarov, Toure, De Jong.

Wolves: De Vries, Foley, Stearman, Bassong, Ward, Kightly, Davis, Henry, Jarvis, Edwards, Fletcher.

Subs: Ikeme, Ebanks-Blake, Johnson, Berra, Milijas, Zubar, Doyle.

Dorus de Vries in goal for Wolves today after Wayne Hennessey’s season-ending injury. He shipped five goals against City in the Carling Cup earlier.

Here we go.

Tevez burst through and blasts two yards over after only 20 seconds. Wolves respond by pressing for an early corner after good work from Kightly.

Joe Hart giving early palpitations to City fans as he comes for a cross then pulls out and lets his defenders clear. Bassong had forced a second Wolves corner just beforehand when his shot was deflected over.

Aguero fizzes a shot just wide of De Vries left-hand post after being forced wide in the box. Fletcher looks like he will plough a lonely furrow up front for Wolves today.

Head tennis in the City box before Aguero piles forward as part of a three-on-two break. He makes the unwise move of feeding Tevez on the wing rather than slip Silva through.

Davis then rattles one in that Hart does well to get both hands to after great work from Jarvis and Fletcher.

City’s zonal marking leaves them vulnerable to Wolves’ charges onto corner-kicks. One headed ball back into the box is controlled by Stearman but his overhead kick balloons over the bar.

Nasri should really score after Zabaleta slips him in. His shot is dragged weakly wide but Roberto Mancini will be pleased that the Wolves defence is proving porous.

Stearman sells De Vries short with a criminally poor header back into the box. Aguero just needs to show composure but opts for a scuffed shot rather than a lob.

Stearman is left sliding but nowhere less than 60 seconds later but Aguero is off target again.

Looking like a matter of time before City hit the front. Nasri almost connects with Tevez but de Vries slides out bravely to snuff out the scoring chance.

GOAL! Sergio Aguero puts City 1-0 up.

Gael Clichy gallops down the left wing and delivers in a bending cross that evades the lunging Bassong. Aguero takes a touch and side-foots the ball past an exposed de Vries in the Wolves goal.

“If you had a chance to play for an Olympic Gold Medal,” Sky’s Martin Tyler asks, “what would you do?”

Gary Neville deflects a question that never occupied his thoughts when he was totting up league titles with Manchester United.

Things are looking grim for Wolves with 34 minutes gone. They need to push for a win but City are marauding at every given chance.

Tevez stings de Vries’ palms before Kightly surges forward and just fails to pick out Fletcher on the back-post.

Nasri whips in a dangerous cross but Tevez does not anticipate the ball. The Aguero goal was, incidentally, league goal number 86 for City.

Tevez and Aguero are causing Wolves no-end of fuss but the final ball from midfielders Barry and Silva are keeping the home side alive. Late free kick for Wolves but they choose not to whip it into the box and the ball is wasted.

HALF-TIME: It looks like Wolves have accepted their fate and there has been little spark in their performance. City will want the second goal early on in the second-half.

Sergior Aguero thanks Gael Clichy for the assist. (Credit: Tim Hales/AP/Press Association Images)

Wolves manager Terry Connor has Kevin Doyle and Sylvan Ebanks-Blake on the bench and will have to bring on both if his team are not back in this match after 60 minutes. Best to go down fighting. Wise words, perhaps, before City blast in three goals on the break.

Back underway at Molineux and Wolves having a peek or two inside the City half.

Matt Jarvis bothers the City defence before Zabaleta does well to wrestle the ball back and clear. Tevez has dropped back into midfield early on in the second-half.

Yaya Toure hacks the flying Kightly down and earns a yellow. The free-kick is headed near the penalty spot and Fletcher draws a good save from Joe Hart. Clichy heads the corner clear.

City is looking shaky under balls lobbed into the box. Nice spell of pressure from Wanderers.

Meanwhile at Anfield – Luis Suarez dances through several challenges but blazes over. It remains Liverpool 0-0 West Brom and the Reds’ faithful have seen this before.

Nigel de Jong comes on for David Silva and Wolves are on the up.

Kevin Doyle now comes on for David Edwards.

Dirk Kuyt has battered the crossbar for Liverpool as West Brom hold on at Anfield.

At Molineux, Foley concedes a corner as Tevez sends a testing pass across the six yard box.

Ward battles hard on the left flank but City have weathered the early Wolves fight-back. They are looking to take the sting out of the match but Vincent Kompany doesn’t help when he plays a wasteful ball straight to de Vries.

Kevin Doyle has linked the forward play well  since coming on. Carlos Tevez then gets a glimmer on goal but Stearman does superbly to block his shot. Aguero is an inch away from taking a long ball down from Nasri.

The Wolves fans are looking resigned to spilling three more points at home. Nige de Jong gets them murmuring when he scythes down Kightly before Doyle does well to earn his team a corner.

GOAL! Nasri rattles it home after a fine through-ball from Tevez.

Wolves fans are not happy about the second City goal. Tevez gets a soft free-kick from referee Lee Probert and takes it quickly. Wanderers are caught napping and Tevez slides a ball through for Samir Nasri. Bassong tries to intercept but pulls his hamstring in the process. Nasri sweeps it home.

Over at Anfield, Peter Odemwingie puts West Brom 1-0 up

Adam Johnson nearly makes it 3-0 for City but de Vries gets down to palm it away.

Sergio Aguero should make it 3-0 after Adam Johnson puts him clear. Acres of space but the Argentinean tries to be clever and skews an attempted drag past Stearman. He had too much time to think and had a brain freeze.

Stearman then had a fantastic header (in the wrong direction) saved by de Vries.

There’s only one Roy Hodgson!”

- West Brom fans at Anfield

Wolves briefly led the Premier League earlier in the season after they won their opening two games. They have only won three league matches since and will be relegated in a matter of minutes.

Yaya Toure thunders a shot just inches wide as hailstones plummet down on the 22 players.

FULL-TIME

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