Nuno doubts Man City can close the gap to Liverpool

Nuno Espirito Santo isn’t sure Manchester City can close the gap to Liverpool in the Premier League ahead of their clash with Wolves.

Manchester City hope to wrestle the Premier League crown back from Liverpool this season and need three points on Monday to keep in check with their aim. Especially as their rivals have made it two wins out of two.

Pep Guardiola has fixed a key area in signing Nathan Ake as the club’s newest center-back to aid their bid. His failure to replace the departed Vincent Kompany last term proved costly, leading to an array of defensive errors. There is also talk of potential moves for Kalidou Koulibaly and Jules Kounde.

After finishing 18 points behind Liverpool in the standings last season, however, Nuno isn’t sure they can close down that sizable gap.

“I have no idea what will happen,” said the Wolves boss as quoted on Yahoo.

“After such a quick turnaround it’s unpredictable to guess what is going to happen. Nobody knows.

“We are focused on ourselves, knowing that the Premier League is really, really tough and will demand a lot from us.”

Nuno’s side proved their quality with a resounding 2-0 win away to Sheffield United for their season opener last week. Raul Jimenez and Romain Saiss were on target inside the opening six minutes.

It was an impressive result and performance at Bramall Lane, especially in the opening half. Although some of Wolves’ shortcomings were displayed in the second-half when Sheffield piled on the pressure.

But, on the other hand, Wolves did the double over City last season by beating them both home and away. The 3-2 triumph in the last encounter was particularly impressive for the hosts. They recovered from two goals down against a 10-man City to win the game and boast 62.2% of possession.

“Games are never the same,” said Nuno on the club’s recent record against Monday’s opponents.

“What we look at it is the quality and the way Man City play the game: talent, speed of the ball, all of these things we have to look for and pay attention to,” said Nuno.

“At the same time, looking to build on our idea, looking to play our game and do things well.

“But things will never be the same. This is what we have to realise. It’s a new game and a new challenge ahead of us.

“You know the talent and the quality of Man City’s squad, it’s amazing the quality of their players, their manager, Pep, all this.

“It’s going to be hard, it’s going to be very difficult. We expect a very, very tough match and we want to compete against a fantastic team.”