12 min “Morning greetings from California,” begins Mary Waltz. “Regarding Kellogs Cereal: hey, eat what you want, But why fool yourself calling these various products cereal, as if they have some nutritional value. If you want to start your day with a massive sugar rush I say have a chocolate pastry, a hot chocolate, or a coffee explosion with sugar and caffeine. Or any combination. Tastes far better than cardboard topped with sugar.”

I have them very rarely, but cardboard topped with sugar topped with ice-cold milk is one of life’s greatest pleasures.

11 min Looking at the goal again, Stones totally loses Strand Larsen – as we said he might. Though he’s excellent on the ball, he lacks nous and physicality – and Wolves have the tools to exploit that.

9 min Back come City immediately, Savio finding Gundogan, who finds Bernardo who shoots from the edge … but Sa palms away on the dive.

GOAL! Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-1 Manchester City (Strand Larsen 7)

5 min Wolves clear the corner easily enough, but City collects possession and keep them boxed, Gundogan prompting with a give-and-go. And again, though Wolves avert immediate danger, City go at them again, Doku cutting in off the left, playing a one-two off Gundogan, whose backheel sets him for a shot … which he slides wide and plenty.

4 min City move the ball from side to side, Savinho – starting on the right – looking to at Ait-Nouri on the outside. But the defender stands up well, then slides in to concede a corner.

2 min “While Wolves is bad,” writes Adam Griffiths, “you do at least get to see the pitch. Newcastle (never ending stairs, better view of the city than the pitch, need binoculars to see anything) and Everton (pillars! More pillars! Pillars everywhere blocking the view) are much worserer.”

I love Goodison – you can just move to avoid the pillars – but yep, Newcastle is miserable. I thought they’d been made to change it as away fans are now meant to be pitchside, but that’s not in fact the case.

1 min Away we go! For those watching in black and white, City are in the burgundy shirts.

The players take the knee.

Our teams are tunnelled … and here they come!

Email “Will City target Ait-Nouri?” wonders Gary Stover. I’m not sure whether that’s today, or as a left-back for the future. I fear Wolves may struggle to hang on to him in January, but I’d not be surprised to see the space behind him targeted.

Hivemind: has anyone tried these and if so, are they any use?

Also going on:

Is Molineux the worst away end in the league? Shallow and down the entire side of the pitch, I contend that it is.

I’m really looking forward to seeing how the midfield battle goes. Lemina, Andre and Gomes will want to make the battle a physical one, because Gundogan and Silva, wonderful though they are, are underpowered. They could well pass their way through Wolves nevertheless, but it won’t be easy.

I know O’Neil has gone 3-5-2 to restrict space for City, but I wonder if a tight defensive block might also be a good way to counteract the threat of Erling Haaland, one man able to mark, one to mark the space and the other to troubleshoot. If Wolves keep a low block, Haaland will have to come short to get on the ball, and that is far from his best asset.

A potential template for Wolves might be Newcastle, whose muscular, enterprising style regularly causes City grief. Of course, Newcastle have better players, but their ability to make every contest physical is one that Wolves can imitate.

Guardiola says that Walker came back from the break injured, so hasn’t travelled. But he’s glad to play on Sunday, as it means his players, the Brazilians in particular, have had an extra day to get ready, which is why Savinho starts.

Where is the game? Wolves will look to bottle up the middle of the pitch, forcing City to go around rather than through them; I imagine that’s why Guardiola has picked wingers not wide attackers – for that reason, I wonder if Doku and Savio will play on their natural sides. Otherwise, the home side’s front two might also pose a threat – Cunha looks a potentially taxing match-up for Stones, while Strand Larsen is a threat in behind, all the more so given the lack of pace in the centre of City’s back four.

Talking of City, they welcome back Nathan Aké – he’s on the bench – as is Manuel Akanji, who picked up a minor knock on international duty. As such, Stones comes in at centre-back, while Jeremy Doku and Savinho are handed starts on the wings, Phil Foden and Jack Grealish kept in reserve.

O’Neil is, of course, without Yerson Mosquera, Sasa Kalajdzic, Enso González, Bastein Meupiyou, Boubacar Traoré – and now Hwang Hee-chan, injured playing for South Korea and out for around a month. Consequently, Matheus Cunha and Jørgen Strand Larsen start up front, and have the ability to give John Stones and Ruben Dias a testing afternoon.

O’Neil tells Sky that Sam Johnstone got injured in training, so José Sa comes in – and has been pushing for selection. Morale, he says is fine – Wolves have had a tough run of fixtures and generally played well, though the effort last time out, against Brentford, was unacceptable. Though today is a hard game, they believe they can turn things around and, having won this fixture last year, they know what’s required and how well they have to play to win.

Otherwise, he’s taking the risk out of the buildup because his players don’t need complexity currently, but that’s not why he’s gone to five at the back – he’s always done that against City. Finally, he’s not bothered about Guardiola or any other manager saying Wolves are good – they just need to play well.

Teams!

Preamble