Nathan Collins sees red for high challenge on Jack Grealish as Man City win at a canter
MARCHING ORDERS: Wolverhampton Wanderers' Nathan Collins is shown a red card by referee Anthony Taylor.
The Erling Haaland wonder tour continued at Molineux although, for once, the Norwegian prodigy had to share top billing with Jack Grealish.
The England winger, whose indifferent form has been the topic of much conversation in the new season, was on the mark inside the opening minute.
He then went on to turn in one of his best performances for Pep Guardiola’s side since his £100 million arrival last year, and was the recipient of a bad foul from Ireland's Nathan Collins which left Wolves with 10 men for over an hour.
Phil Foden added a third after the interval but, yet again, the number crunchers were sent into over-drive by Haaland, who scored for a seventh successive game and made it 14 in nine matches in his City career.
It took City all of 55 seconds - in which time Wolves touched the ball once - to take the lead although, on this occasion, Haaland was not on the end of it.
The move started with Kevin De Bruyne on the right, who received the ball back courtesy of a neat back-heel from Foden.
The Belgian’s cross just eluded Haaland in the middle of the net but Grealish arrived, bullying Jonny out of the way before finishing neatly.
It was the worst possible start to the afternoon for Wolves and it did not take long for worse to follow, this time from an inevitable source.
Bernardo Silva’s pass found Haaland in midfield and, with defender Max Kilman backing off and uncertain what to do, the City striker simply thumped the ball past Jose Sa from the edge of the area.
Any hopes of a Wolves recovery looked slim and became even slimmer just after the half-hour when Collins was sent off for a flying studs-up challenge on Grealish, now revelling in the role of pantomime villain before the Molineux crowd.
Wolves at least made City work at the start of the second half, without seriously threatening Ederson or forcing him into a meaningful save.
And City were always likely to add a third which eventually came after 68 minutes, in an attack started by Haaland and featuring a neat pass to release De Bruyne.
His clever ball towards the near post was met by Foden who stared a superb finish across Jose Sa and into the corner.
Just before that goal, Sa had done well to deny Haaland another goal, diving smartly to keep out his powerful, low strike.
Ederson 6; Stones 6, Akanji 7, Dias 6, Cancelo 7; De Bruyne 7 (Gundogan 71, 6), Rodri 7 (Gomez 80), Silva 6 (Alvarez 71, 6); Foden 8 (Mahrez 71, 6), Haaland 8, Grealish 9 (Palmer 76, 6). Substitutes (not used) Ortega, Carson, Walker, Ake.
: Sa 6; Jonny 5, Collins 4, Kilman 5, Ait-Nouri 4 (Semedo 80); Nunes 6, Neves 8, Moutinho 6; Neto 7 (Campbell 85), Podence 7 (Traore 69, 6), Guedes 6 (Hwang 69, 6). Substitutes (not used) Sarkic, Mosquera, Toti, Ronan, Bueno.
: A Taylor 7
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