Captain Kevin De Bruyne scored in his penultimate game at Etihad Stadium as Manchester City beat Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-0 on Friday to climb to third in the Premier League and boost their chances of Champions League qualification.
Pep Guardiola’s men provisionally climbed one spot with 64 points after 35 games, two points ahead of fourth-placed Newcastle and four points ahead of both Chelsea and Nottingham Forest, who all have a game in hand.
“We are better than weeks ago, winning games in a row,” Guardiola told Sky Sports. “It’s good to win when we play the way we played today, but we cannot relax — Southampton, Bournemouth, and Fulham [left to play].”
Wolves, who saw their remarkable run of six successive victories end, are 13th.
Wolves had the better chances in a nervy first-half before City broke the deadlock in the 35th minute when Jeremy Doku cut the ball back sharply from the left-hand side to De Bruyne who side-footed it home past Jose Sa.
The stadium crowd rose to chant “Oh, Kevin De Bruyne!” in an emotional moment. The 33-year-old announced last month that he would leave the club when his contract expires at the end of the season, making Friday his second-last game at his home stadium in a sky-blue City shirt.
“I know I have one game left here but I just try to do my job like I’ve always done and I did that today, so I’m proud of what I’m doing and that’s how it’s supposed to be,” the Belgian told Sky Sports.
James Gill – Danehouse/Getty Images
De Bruyne, who has battled injuries the past two seasons, had expressed surprise that he had not been offered a contract extension by City, saying he still had plenty to give. Friday was another example.
“A lot of teammates have said that it’s sad I have to go too but that’s just how it goes sometimes in life and I think the way I’m performing and acting like a teammate … I give everything and I want to win the game.”
Asked about his future, De Bruyne said: “Unfortunately, I don’t know yet, I think I showed that I can still play, otherwise I don’t do what I do these last four or five weeks.”
De Bruyne’s goal ended some nervous moments including an absolute sitter missed by Wolves in the first half when Jean-Ricner Bellegarde slid a square pass to Marshall Munetsi rather than take the shot, but his pass was just out of Munetsi’s reach.
Nervous City fans had barely had a chance to catch their breath when Rayan Aït-Nouri had a double chance for the visitors, rifling his first off the post and then having his follow-up effort cleared off the line by Josko Gvardiol.
City stepped it up soon after and 20-year-old Nico O’Reilly unleashed a shot that was deflected just past the post.
Wolves, however, did not take their foot off the gas and Matheus Cunha hammered a shot off the upright early in the second half.
“I am very proud of my team,” Wolves boss Vitor Pereira said. “I said that we can lose a game, but we can’t lose our identity, our courage, our ambition, our commitment and our team spirit.
“Today we showed all of that in our team. We were just missing the result.”
