Opta stat pack | Wolves' opening day fixtures | Features | News

19th June 2025

With the 2025/26 fixtures now confirmed, which will see Wolves begin the new season at home to Manchester City, Opta have crunched the numbers on the Old Gold's previous opening day Premier League fixtures.

Vitor Pereira’s side are set to begin the new season at Molineux on Saturday 16^th August as they face a home clash with Manchester City, with the game kicking off at 5.30pm, live on Sky Sports.

The match is the first of 38 Premier League outings for Wolves next season and statistical analytics experts at Opta have highlighted some of the key stats and facts regarding the club’s record in their previous opening games of a top flight campaign…

1 | A rare home opener

The 2025/26 season will see Wolves kick off a Premier League campaign with a game at Molineux for the first time since their return to the top flight back in 2018/19.

On that day back in 2018, Wolves began the season with a home 2-2 draw against Everton, which saw goals from Ruben Neves and Raul Jimenez cancel out a Richarlison brace.

Overall, Wolves are unbeaten in each of their last four opening fixtures when playing at home (W3, D1), having previously kicked off their 2010/11 Premier League, 2014/15 Championship and 2017/18 Championship campaigns at Molineux.

The last time Wolves were defeated at home on opening day came back in 2009 as Wolves returned to the top flight under Mick McCarthy and fell to a 2-0 loss against West Ham United.

2 | Another ‘top four’ opponent

This will be the third consecutive year in which Wolves’ first game of a Premier League season has come against a side who ended the previous campaign in the top four.

Last year saw the Old Gold begin their season against the previous year’s runners-up as they travelled to north London to face Arsenal, while in 2022/23 Gary O’Neil’s opening game in charge was away at Manchester United.

Wolves are the only side to have had three such fixtures in that period.

In their last seven opening day fixtures, Wolves have also taken on Leeds United, Sheffield United, Leicester City twice and Everton.

3 | City prove a problem at Molineux

Last season’s third-placed Premier League side, Man City, will arrive at Molineux looking to bounce back from their first trophyless season (not including the Community Shield) since 2017, but they will be buoyed by their recent record in the Black Country.

Since promotion back to the Premier League ahead of the 2018/19 campaign, Wolves have taken seven points from their seven home games against Manchester City (W2, D1, L4).

Those two wins came during the 2023/24 and 2019/20 seasons, which saw the Old Gold claim a 2-1 victory in September 2023, as well as a memorable three points in the festive fixture of 2019, where Wolves fought back from two goals down to claim a 3-2 win thanks to goals from Adama Traore, Raul Jimenez and Matt Doherty.

The only draw between the two sides in the last eight years came at Molineux in August 2018 – Man City’s first visit to the stadium since April 2012 – as Willy Boly’s goal earned Wolves a point.

Our 2025/26 fixtures are out! 🗞️ pic.twitter.com/p3vmbhDqwu
— Wolves (@Wolves) June 18, 2025

4 | History in Wolves favour

Although the majority of recent Wolves and Man City meetings have favoured the visitors, the Old Gold have the upper hand when it comes to historical opening day matches between the two sides.

Wolves have won each of their last three meetings against City when they have fallen on the first game of a season.

The first of those wins came in 1956 where Wolves ran out 5-1 winners at Molineux, before the Old Gold went even better in 1962 when they claimed an 8-1 win against the men from Manchester in the Black Country.

Man City are yet to win an opening day game against Wolves, after also tasting defeat in 1999 at Maine Road, when a young Robbie Keane scored the only goal of the game and his penultimate strike in gold and black before his move to Coventry City two weeks later.

5 | Hee Chan closing in on record

Hee Chan Hwang will be chomping at the bit to be part of Pereira’s starting 11 in the opening day of next season, as the South Korean has the chance to make a bit of personal history against Pep Guardiola’s side.

Hwang has scored in his last two Premier League starts against Man City, with only Mohamed Salah and Anthony Martial ever scoring in three successive starts against the team under Guardiola in the competition.

After not starting against City last season, his last two starts came two seasons ago, when Hwang netted in a 5-1 loss at the Etihad Stadium, while the Korean also scored the decisive goal at Molineux as Wolves claimed a 2-1 victory.