Controversial winner from John Stones helps Manchester City survive Wolverhampton Wanderers scare

WOLVERHAMPTON – Manchester City secured a thrilling 2-1 victory against Wolverhampton Wanderers with John Stones scoring a dramatic late winner, which was ultimately awarded after a VAR review. This result propelled the champions to the summit of the English Premier League on Oct 20.

Pep Guardiola’s side trailed to Jorgen Strand Larsen’s surprise opener for Wolves early in the first half.

Josko Gvardiol dragged City back on level terms before the interval and, with just seconds left in stoppage time, Stones headed the visitors to a dramatic sixth win in eight league games this season.

Bottom-of-the table Wolves claimed Stones’ goal should have been disallowed for offside and interference by Bernardo Silva on goalkeeper Jose Sa.

But referee Chris Kavanagh ignored their protests after consulting the pitchside monitor.

Wolves boss Gary O’Neil told : “I am trying to remain calm. I have been involved in a few of those and not had many go in our favour, so was expecting that outcome.

“There is some grey area that can go either way and once it was like that, I wasn’t confident it would go our way.

“I would rather not discuss it because it will still sound like I am making excuses. Whatever decision they make, I respect. We don’t want to cross that line, but it did feel like a harsh one.”

However, his City counterpart Pep Guardiola told the BBC: “I didn’t understand it. Linesman, I don’t know the reason why he did it. But Bernardo isn’t disturbing the position.

“It was difficult in the first moment. Today in modern football they starve the ’keeper. In the moment what happened, Sa had the perfect vision. The taker from Phil (Foden) and the header (by John Stones) were magnificent.

City are two points clear of previous leaders Liverpool, who can reclaim pole position with a victory against Chelsea later on Oct 20. That match ended after press time.

Chasing a fifth successive English title, Guardiola’s men have set a new club record as their unbeaten run in the league reached 31 games since their loss to Aston Villa in December.

In English top-flight history, only six times has a side gone more than 30 matches without losing, most recently Liverpool’s run of 44 games from 2019 to 2020.

City are undefeated in 11 games in all competitions this season after avenging last season’s 2-1 defeat on their previous visit to Wolves.

Champions City dominated possession from start to finish at Molineux, but were shocked in the seventh minute when a perfect cross from Nelson Semedo was met with a composed close-range finish by Wolves striker Strand Larsen.

Semedo missed a glorious chance to put Wolves further ahead in a one-on-one that Ederson saved, before Gvardiol picked up the ball in space and curled a beautiful shot past Sa for a deserved 33rd-minute equaliser.

On his late winner, Stones said: “We have been trying super hard to improve our set pieces and make the most of them. Today was a new focus and attitude towards them.

“Hopefully, this is the start of many more. It is a vital part of the game at both ends of the pitch and really pleasing for me personally to get the winner after such a difficult game.”

Bottom on one point and without a win this season, Wolves are staring at a battle against relegation unless they can start picking up wins.

Said O’Neil: “The lads stuck to the plans really well. When you compare that to the Brentford game (a 5-3 defeat) they are miles apart.

“We have enough quality, we know the Premier League is tough, so we have to find a way. We showed that against the best side in the world and came up 20 seconds short. But if we can replicate that we will be fine. After this tough run, we will show our qualities.” AFP,