Omar Marmoush scored his first Premier League goal of the season to help Manchester City return to winning ways by easing past bottom side Wolves at Etihad Stadium.

Pep Guardiola's side had suffered a miserable start to 2026 by not winning any of their four league games, and the Spaniard decided to give star striker Erling Haaland and midfielder Phil Foden a rest by dropping them to the bench.

The duo came on in the second half by which time their team-mates had already made a positive impact to put City back on track in the top-flight.

Both sides set their stalls out early on, with visitors Wolves opting to sit back with a five-man defence, but City exerted their dominance by carving them open at will inside the first 10 minutes.

Debutant Marc Guehi almost made a dream start in a City shirt but his header at the back post was straight into the grasp of goalkeeper Jose Sa inside the first five minutes.

City grabbed the lead a minute later when Marmoush stabbed home Matheus Nunes' whipped cross, before Semenyo latched on to a ball over the top but his first-time strike was bundled away by Sa.

The hosts doubled their lead on the stroke of half-time to effectively seal the points when Bernardo Silva fizzed a pass into the feet of Semenyo, who converted a cool finish from the edge of the area - and he also rattled the crossbar in the second half.

Yerson Mosquera's flicked header clipped the crossbar for Wolves late on, but Rob Edwards' side have now won just once all season and lie 14 points adrift of safety.

City were outplayed by Manchester United last Saturday and suffered a monumental Champions League shock at Bodo/Glimt during the week, but there was an air of inevitability about this result from the first whistle.

For at least a day, City have cut the deficit to leaders Arsenal to four points and will be hoping for a favour from rivals United when Michael Carrick's side head to Emirates Stadium on Sunday (16:30 GMT).

The home side had drawn three and lost their other league game this year but were on top from the off on Saturday - Marmoush repaying boss Guardiola's faith by scoring after starting his first league game since August in place of Haaland.

Semenyo netted his third goal for City since signing from Bournemouth two weeks ago, showing how effective he can be by cutting in from the right - his 11th goal in his past 17 home games was calmly taken and gave his side some breathing room.

Centre-back Guehi joined from Crystal Palace and provided much-needed assurance in the heart of the defence, displaying his experience and calmness to help City to a clean sheet on his first start.

The result means City have now won 11 of their past 12 league games against Wolves and are unbeaten in their past 31 matches against sides starting the day bottom of the table - a run stretching back to the early days of the Abu Dhabi ownership in 2008.

Wolves came into this game in better form than City, unbeaten in their past four games - but that run came to a grinding halt.

Edwards' men barely laid a glove on City and look doomed to playing Championship football next season, their fate seemingly sealed with 15 games still to play.

Having let in two goals in the first half, Wolves were fortunate not to concede a penalty too when the ball struck Mosquera on the arm in the box.

But referee Farai Hallam, making his Premier League debut, stuck with his original decision of no handball, having been told to review the incident on the pitchside monitor.

Wolves have been toothless in front of goal and their solitary effort on target - a tame header from Mosquera which was tipped over by Gianluigi Donnarumma - showed precisely why they have now failed to score in 12 league games this season.

Manchester City will be aiming to seal a top-eight place in the Champions League when they host Turkish club Galatasaray on Wednesday (20:00 GMT).

Wolves return to Premier League action next Saturday with a trip to Bournemouth (15:00).