Carlos Tevez inspired Man City as they came from behind to beat Wolves 4-3 at Eastlands to send them top.
Mancini's men go top as they edge past Wolves
Manchester City had to come from behind as they shared seven goals with Wolves on their way to a 4-3 win at Eastlands which sends them top of the Premier League.
But it was far from convincing by Roberto Mancini's side who had Carlos Tevez to thank for a memorable second-half showing.
Wolves were outstanding in the opening 45 minutes and deservedly took the lead through Nenad Milijas.
City managed to get level just before the break when Kolo Toure was able to squeeze his close-range effort past Wayne Hennessey.
Then it was time for Tevez to take control and, with the first attack of the second half he waltzed his way into the box, beat three challenges before side-footing home.
Moments later and City made it 3-1 as debutant Edin Dzeko combined with Yaya Toure to send the Ivorian clear and he finished with great aplomb.
Wolves were shell shocked and it was not long before City added another and it was Tevez again as he headed home from six yards from Pablo Zabaleta's cross.
But in a remarkable game, Wolves did not lie down and they were awarded a penalty with 20 minutes left which Kevin Doyle converted.
Then with just minutes left Roland Zubar's header was ruled to have crossed the line and suddenly City had to hold on. Indeed Wolves almost clinched an unlikely draw as Geoffrey Mujangi Bia's late strike only just deflected wide of the post.
City, though, got the three points they need to go above Manchester United, who play on Sunday, whilst Wolves drop into the bottom three.
Debut
£27million man Dzeko made his debut for City after they flexed their mighty financial muscle to make him the sixth most expensive player the Premier League has ever known, City though could not have expected to be rolled over quite so easily as they were in that opening 30 minutes.
They were already wobbling when Kolo Toure blasted a clearance into Vincent Kompany, the rebound dropping kindly for Milijas, who finished at the second attempt despite Joe Hart's initial heroics.
Hart denied Milijas shortly afterwards when the Serbian powered a header towards goal, although there was nothing he could do to prevent Steven Fletcher picking out an unmarked Matt Jarvis at the far post.
Jarvis must have thought he had scored when he pulled the trigger on a shot from 12 yards. Instead, Aleksandar Kolarov flung himself in the way to preserve a fragile state of affairs.
The value of Kolarov's block was not immediately apparent as it took City some time to assert themselves.
But once Adam Johnson had forced Wayne Hennessey into an excellent feet first save, Wolves began to assume the air of a side who could not wait for the interval to come.
Unfortunately for them, the clock did not speed round quickly enough. Tevez was only just wide with a fizzing shot, then, after Dzeko had been denied by an excellent Zubar challenge, Kompany got his head to Johnson's corner and flicked it towards the far post.
Kolo Toure controlled, then went for goal, ignoring the crowd of bodies in his way. His decision proved correct as the shot beat Hennessey, bounced through David Jones' legs and eventually over the line.
It was the Ivorian's first goal of the season. More importantly, it created the platform for normal service to be resumed after half-time.
More than anyone, Tevez had been inconvenienced by Dzeko's arrival, shunted from his favoured central berth to a role wide on the left at kick-off.
Tevez inspiration
The Argentinian is not one for keeping quiet, though.
And, as spectators were still taking their seats, he picked up possession on the angle of the area and exploded into life, bursting through the passive presence of Christophe Berra and Stephen Hunt, then skipping inside Richard Stearman.
The hard work done, the rest was easy as Tevez calmly slipped City in front.
Mancini's men were not done either.
Their third owed much to a neat one-two between Dzeko and Tevez just inside the Wolves half.
The Bosnian then sent Yaya Toure clean through with a perfect through ball, the midfielder following his brother onto the scoresheet with clinical efficiency.
Dzeko came close to a debut goal when his deflected shot flew narrowly wide, but Tevez was in no mood to offer reprieves and when countryman Zabaleta crossed from the right, the Argentina star's header bounced in via the underside of the crossbar.
Amazingly, within seconds Wolves had pulled one back, Doyle getting to his feet to score from the spot after he had been bundled over by substitute Joleon Lescott.
Zubar added another to set up a frantic ending, which would have been sickening for City had Bia's stoppage-time shot deflected into the net off Kompany rather than just wide.
| Manchester City |
Team Statistics |
Wolverhampton Wanderers |
| 4 |
Goals |
3 |
| 1 |
1st Half Goals |
1 |
| 8 |
Shots on Target |
5 |
| 4 |
Shots off Target |
5 |
| 6 |
Blocked Shots |
3 |
| 12 |
Corners |
8 |
| 11 |
Fouls |
9 |
| 5 |
Offsides |
3 |
| 0 |
Yellow Cards |
0 |
| 0 |
Red Cards |
0 |
| 81.8 |
Passing Success |
73.8 |
| 14 |
Tackles |
21 |
| 64.3 |
Tackles Success |
71.4 |
| 49.6 |
Possession |
50.4 |
| 44.6 |
Territorial Advantage |
55.4 |
|
