Raheem Sterling’s 100th Premier League goal kept Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City at the top of the table as the defending champions toiled to break down the ten men of Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Sterling struck, becoming the sixth active player to reach a century of Premier League goals in the process, from a contentious 66th-minute penalty, awarded after Bernardo Silva’s cross struck João Moutinho.
Replays seemed to suggest the ball hid the Wolves midfielder’s armpit, rather than arm, but the referee Jonathan Moss awarded a penalty kick, which a lengthy VAR review failed to overturn.
Sterling showed great composure to roll the penalty straight down the middle of the goal past the diving Wolves goalkeeper José Sá.
Still, the major talking point came in the second of seven minutes of first-half stoppage time when Raúl Jiménez earned two yellow cards within 31 seconds of each other and reduced his team to ten men.
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The forward was booked for a petty foul on Rodri, a decision that looked harsh but in no way excused his response as he stuck out a leg in an attempt to block the resulting free kick.
Moss was left with little choice but to show the Mexican striker a second yellow, the cue for Jiménez to make a laboured and theatrical departure from the field that even involved City fans ironically cheering him as he repeatedly threw his headband to the floor.
It was a bizarre ending to a half which had offered numerous talking points such as that, but little in the way of flowing or entertaining football.
There had also been a horrific collision between the Wolves players Rúben Neves and Max Kilman, which left the pair needing lengthy treatment for cuts to the head and concussion checks. That was one of a number of moments that took the flow and rhythm out of the game, a fact that clearly disadvantaged City more than their visitors.
There were also some terrific individual duels around the pitch; notably between Rúben Dias, who was booked for fouling his nemesis Adama Traoré, and between Sterling and Romain Saïss. The Wolves defender Saïss angered City supporters for going to ground and holding his face after the most fleeting of contact from Sterling, with Rodri spoken to by Moss for his reaction to the incident.
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But the half ended with Sá yet to make a serious save, a situation that promised to change after the restart with his team having been reduced to ten. Gabriel Jesus came close with a couple of half-chances before Ilkay Gündogan met João Cancelo’s excellent cross but saw his goalbound header cleared off the line brilliantly by Conor Coady.
Guardiola responded by throwing on Phil Foden, who has been hampered by an ankle injury, while Oleksandr Zinchenko quickly responded with an 18-yard shot which he did well to steer on target but which was comfortably saved by Sá.
After finally succumbing to the City pressure, Wolves might have conceded again soon after but Jack Grealish volleyed wide in wild fashion from an excellent Sterling cross while a Silva effort was well blocked by Sá’s outstretched leg. Incredibly, however, Wolves might have snatched a point with Ederson having to tip over an excellent 91st-minute header by Kilman from a Daniel Podence cross.
Manchester City (4-3-3): Ederson 6 — J Cancelo 9, R Dias 6, A Laporte 7, O Zinchenko 6 — I Gundogan 6 (P Foden 55, 7), Rodri 6, B Silva 7 — R Sterling 7, G Jesus 7, J Grealish 5 (K De Bruyne 73, 6). Substitutes not used K Walker, J Stones, N Ake, Z Steffen, Fernandinho, R Mahrez, C Palmer. Booked: Cancelo, Dias, Rodri
Wolverhampton Wanderers (3-5-2): J Sá 8; M Kilman 7, C Coady 7, R Saïss 8; N Semedo 5, L Dendoncker 6 (D Podence 86), R Neves 7 (Trincao 81), J Moutinho 6, R Ait-Nouri 6 — A Traoré 6 (H-C Hwang 66, 5), R Jiménez 5. Substitutes not used K Hoever, F Marcal, W Boly, F Silva, J Ruddy, L Cundle. Booked: Jiménez, Neves, Dendoncker Sent off: Jiménez
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Referee J Moss 5