Manchester City suffered a surprise defeat to Wolves after late second half goals from Adama Traore.
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| Traore scored twice, having netted once in his previous 39 appearances |
Wolves' forwards Raul Jimenez and Patrick Cutrone spurned golden opportunities to take a lead in first half.
Jimenez had strong penalty claim turned down by referee Craig Pawson after a challenge from Fernandinho.
Manchester City struggled to create chances and badly missed key man Kevin De Bruyne who was out injured.
David Silva hit the bar on 67 minutes from a free-kick before Spanish midfielder blazed over from close-range.
The result extends Liverpool's lead at the Premier League summit to eight points in a big title race moment
Manchester City played on the precipice of disaster and are now in a race where Liverpool might just be uncatchable. Eight points adrift after eight games, the outlook is looking increasingly bleak.
Wolves were magnificent – fully deserving of Adama Traore's two goals in the final 10 minutes – and City were dreadful, the heavyweight boxer repeatedly punching themselves in to the ropes.
Man City slip to shock loss to Wolves
Adama Traore's second-half double helped Wolves stun Manchester City 2-0 to leave Liverpool eight points clear at the top heading into the international break.
The warning signs were already there for City after a flat first-half performance but Nuno Espirito Santo's decision to move Traore through the middle was a masterstroke and the winger scored twice on the counter-attack (80 & 90+4).
David Silva did strike the woodwork for City with the scores at 0-0 but Pep Guardiola's side created little as they failed to score at home for the first time in 45 Premier League matches and succumbed to their first home defeat since losing to Crystal Palace in December.
For the first time this season, Liverpool - who edged Leicester with an injury-time penalty on Saturday - are now favourites to win the Premier League.
Meanwhile, this was a timely result for Wolves, who were recording their first Premier League away of the season in a performance full of defensive cohesion and superb counter-attacking.
Player Ratings
Man City: Ederson (6), Walker (5), Otamendi (4), Fernandinho (5), Cancelo (5), Rodrigo (6), Gundogan (6), D.Silva (6), Mahrez (5), Aguero (5), Sterling (6)
Subs: Jesus (6), Zinchenko (6), B.Silva (7)
Wolves: Rui Patricio (8), Boly (9), Coady (8), Saiss (7), Dendoncker (8), Joao Moutinho (8), Vinagre (8), Traore (9), Neves (8), Cutrone (6), Jimenez (8)
Subs: Bennett (8), Jonny (7)
Wolves were keen to target Fernandinho as a makeshift centre-back alongside Nicolas Otamendi from the first whistle and should have been in front at the break.
On five minutes, Joao Moutinho played Patrick Cutrone through on goal but the Italian looked nervous with his finish and sliced horribly wide.
Minutes later Fernandinho produced a double block, first from Raul Jimenez after he skipped through on goal and then from Cutrone's follow up.
Ederson was then called into action to deny Jimenez who again raced through unchallenged for Wolves but a combination of sloppy finishing and brave goalkeeping denied the striker.
It took City 32 minutes to record a shot on target when Raheem Sterling stung the palms of Rui Patricio from range.
City didn't really start playing with any intensity until Guardiola introduced Bernardo Silva on the hour as Wolves - who played a gruelling 90 minutes against Besiktas on Thursday - looked to be tiring.
David Silva could have given the game a different complexion on 67 minutes had his precise effort from a 20-yard free-kick not come crashing back off the crossbar.
Wolves were slipping deeper and deeper and a City goal looked inevitable but Wolves hit them with a perfect counter-attack with 10 minutes remaining to send shockwaves around the Premier League.
Jimenez led the break past Otamendi and squared one for Traore, who came into this game with only one goal in 72 Premier League appearances. But you wouldn't have known that from his finish as he calmly slid the ball past Ederson in the style of a potent striker.
Sergio Aguero wriggled free of Willy Boly's shackles in injury-time but could only shank his effort wide of the post. There would be a late goal, but it came from the visitors.
Traore raced through past some more hesitant City defending to double his account for the afternoon and hand Liverpool a big early-season advantage in the title race.
What the managers said
- Nuno Espirito Santo
Nuno Espirito Santo said he is proud of his side's win as Wolves stunned Man City with a 2-0 victory at the Etihad Stadium.
- Pep Guardiola
Pep Guardiola felt his side failed to create chances effectively in their 2-0 defeat to Wolves.
Opta stats
City have lost a Premier League match at the Etihad Stadium without scoring for the first since March 2016 against Man Utd (0-1), with Manuel Pellegrini in charge.
Wolves have beaten the reigning champions of the top-flight away from home for the first time since January 1984, when they defeated Liverpool 1-0 at Anfield.
Guardiola has a 25% win rate in all competitions against Nuno (1/4) - of managers Guardiola has faced at least three times while in charge of Manchester City, only against Ronald Koeman (0%) and Jurgen Klopp (22%) does he have a worse win rate.
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