BY OSABUOHIEN VIVIAN-ROSE
Goals from Omar Marmoush and Antoine Semenyo pushed Manchester City to a 2‑0 home win over Wolverhampton Wanderers Saturday, bringing Pep Guardiola’s men provisionally to within four points of leaders Arsenal in the Premier League title race.
City’s first league win since December 27 put them on 46 points after 23 games, while the misery continued for Wolves, who are last in the table on eight points, 14 from safety. Arsenal can restore their seven-point cushion with a win over Manchester United on Sunday.
Starting ahead of Erling Haaland in his first league action since playing for Egypt at the Africa Cup of Nations, Marmoush put City on the scoresheet in the sixth minute with his first league goal of the season. Matheus Nunes, the target of boos from the travelling fans of his former team, swung in a cross from the right that Marmoush fired home.
“We fought until the end, showed a very good mentality from the beginning,” Marmoush said. “(Guardiola) wanted us to put our hearts out there and fight for every ball.
“I am very happy to be here after AFCON and help my team. I saw that Matheus broke through and it was a good finish. Happy for the goal and happy for the three points. We just try to get our legs and mind fresh again and then we go again.”
Semenyo, signed two weeks ago from Bournemouth, doubled City’s lead in first-half injury time with his first league goal for the club, when Bernardo Silva found him on his right.
Semenyo took a touch to set up his shot before unleashing a blistering low shot past goalkeeper Jose Sa.
The victory was City’s first in the league since a 2-1 win over Nottingham Forest on December 27, with three draws and a derby loss to Manchester United since then costing them precious points in the title race.
Guardiola gave his league-leading scorer Haaland most of the afternoon off, after recently saying the Norwegian was “exhausted”. Haaland, who came on in the 74th minute, has not scored in nine games.
Centre back Marc Guehi, signed earlier in the week from Crystal Palace, made an impressive City debut and had the Etihad Stadium crowd cheering when he blocked a Wolves shot to preserve the clean sheet.
City had four shots on target to Wolves’ one, with Semenyo nearly doubling his tally when he latched on to a cross from Phil Foden late in the game but rattled his shot off the woodwork.
City also screamed for a penalty right before halftime for a close-range handball but after a lengthy VAR, the pitch-side review determined there was no penalty.
Wolverhampton’s loss ended a run of positive results for the relegation-threatened side, with their previous defeat across all competitions coming on December 27 against Liverpool.
