Wolves vs Man City: Get the inside track on the Premier League champions

We got in touch with Ric Turner, Manchester City blogger for Bluemoon-mcfc.co.uk, and Simon Bajkowski, digital sport reporter for the Manchester Evening News, to get the low-down on the Premier League champions.

See what he had to say here...

Manchester City are obviously coming off an immensely successful season, have they had any speed bumps this summer or to start the season? Or are they stronger than ever?

RT: We've looked extremely good in the three games played so far (if you include the Charity Shield), so the early signs are promising.

It doesn't look like Pep Guardiola has allowed any complacency to set in.

However, we've had a couple of significant set backs with the serious injuries sustained by Kevin De Bruyne and Claudio Bravo.

SB: Injuries to Kevin De Bruyne and Claudio Bravo have rocked the squad a little in the last week but largely it has been plain sailing.

It was a very happy albeit inexperienced group that headed out to the US for three summer friendlies and the ease with which the World Cup players have slotted back into the team has been as surprising as it has been impressive.

What sort of transfer business have we seen from City this summer? Has Pep Guardiola strengthened where he wanted to? Or do you think City could do more business in January?

RT: Riyad Mahrez will be a great addition to the squad I think, and will allow Bernardo Silva to play more centrally which I think will suit him better.

Guardiola would have liked to add a holding midfielder to provide back up for Fernandinho, but was frustrated in his attempts to land Jorginho.

I think we may look at alternatives for that role in January, and also a goalkeeper to replace the injured Bravo.

SB: They wanted Riyad Mahrez and Jorginho; time will tell if they will rue the decision not to pay over the odds to land the Napoli midfielder given Chelsea swooped to land a player Pep Guardiola labelled as exceptional.

If Fernandinho is fit and in form, no problem. If not, the team looks light in midfield.

Sergio Aguero was in stunning form against Huddersfield last weekend, is he the pick of the player for Wolves to worry about? Could you picture him having another hat-trick against Nuno's side?

RT: Aguero looks sharper than he has done for some time, which is ominous for our opponents.

His hat-trick on Sunday was his ninth in the Premier League, so you certainly wouldn't rule out the possibility of him adding another at Molineux.

SB: Aguero has for some time been the most complete striker in the league and he looks sharper than he has done for years after surgery on his knee earlier this year.

You wouldn't bet against him scoring but the success of this City team last season was that the goals and attacking threat were shared.

If one of their many forwards didn't score, somebody else would.

How do you expect Man City to shape up against Wolves? It's near impossible for fans to pick Pep's side week in week out recently? What's your predicted XI?

RT: I think Guardiola will revert to a 4-3-3 on Sunday, having played a back three last weekend.

It'll probably be something like this: Ederson; Walker, Stones, Laporte, Mendy; Fernandinho, D Silva, B Silva; Sterling, Sane, Aguero.

SB: It's an almost impossible task to try and guess. A group of us spent an hour on Sunday trying to work out who would play right-back against Huddersfield and they didn't really even bother with one for the game.

An educated stab in the dark would be something like this...

(3-5-2) Ederson, Kompany, Laporte, Stones, Walker, Mendy, Fernandinho, Bernardo, Silva, Aguero, Jesus

Do you think Guardiola will look at Wolves as an 'easy' target given their recent promotion to the top flight?

RT: I am absolutely certain that Guardiola won't underestimate Wolves, particularly given the tough game we had against them in the Carabao Cup last season.

SB: Absolutely not. He's already voiced concern about playing the promoted teams so early in the season when they are still in the mentality of winning every week, and Huddersfield, Brighton and Newcastle gave City a tougher time of it than more established Premier League teams last season - as did Wolves.

We saw Wolves give City a tough game in the cup last season, will that game be in Guardiola's thoughts this weekend, do you think?

SB: Possibly, in the sense that Wolves gave City more problems than most and should have won the game.

However, both teams will be significantly different from that encounter and Guardiola is more likely to have spent his week poring over more recent Wolves games to try to spot any chinks in the armour that he can exploit.

Are there any injury worries for Man City at the moment which could influence this game?

RT: The injury to De Bruyne was obviously a huge blow, as he is arguably the best midfielder in Europe at present.

Luckily David Silva returned to action against Huddersfield, and looked back to his imperious best.

SB: Nobody can do what De Bruyne can do, but a support cast of David and Bernardo Silva, Ilkay Gundogan, Riyad Mahrez, Raheem Sterling, Leroy Sane and more should be good enough to fill in for his absence.

What have you made of Wolves from afar? Do you think they have a team capable of cutting it in the Premier League this season?

RT: I think Wolves have recruited well, and I'm confident that they will stay up this season.

It's been a tough start for them, but I think they'll adapt quite quickly and start to move up the table.

SB: Any team that wins the Championship commands respect because it is such a hard league and Wolves certainly grabbed attention with the way they played their way to the title.

They appear to have already grasped the stark reality of Premier League life - you need to spend significantly and spend well to survive and thrive, and it appears to have been a fruitful summer of strengthening on the back of promotion.

I'd be surprised if they struggled this year.

Your match prediction?

RT: 3-1 to City. I think it will be an entertaining game, particularly if Wolves go toe to toe with us, but we should too much going forward.

SB: 3-1 City. Wolves showed against Everton that they can score goals against Molineux but Guardiola will have drummed the message into his players not to be complacent and they have so much firepower it is hard to see beyond them.

You can follow Ric by searching for @bluemoon_mcfc on Twitter, and you can catch up with Simon by searching for @spbajko.