Manchester City's Kevin De Bruyne celebrates scoring their first goal with Manchester City's Jeremy Doku Action. [Source: Reuters]

Captain Kevin De Bruyne scored in his penultimate game at Etihad Stadium as Manchester City beat Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-0 to climb to third in the Premier League and boost their chances of Champions League qualification.

Pep Guardiola’s men, who are unbeaten in seven successive league games, provisionally climbed one spot with 64 points after 35 games, two points ahead of fourth-placed Newcastle and four points ahead of both Chelsea and Nottingham Forest, who all have a game in hand.

Wolves, who saw their remarkable run of six successive victories end, are 13th.

Wolves had the better chances in a nervy first half before City broke the deadlock in the 35th minute when Jeremy Doku worked the ball down the left before cutting it back sharply from the left-hand side to De Bruyne who side-footed it home past Jose Sa.

The stadium crowd rose to chant “Oh, Kevin De Bruyne!” in an emotional moment. The 33-year-old announced last month that he would leave the club when his contract expires at the end of the season, making Friday his second-last game at his home stadium in a sky-blue City shirt.

De Bruyne, who has battled injuries the past two seasons, had expressed surprise that he had not been offered a contract extension by City, saying he still had plenty to give. Friday was another example.

Asked about his future, De Bruyne said: “Unfortunately, I don’t know yet, I think I showed that I can still play, otherwise I don’t do what I do these last four or five weeks.”

De Bruyne’s goal ended some nervous moments including an absolute sitter missed by Wolves in the first half when Jean-Ricner Bellegarde slid a square pass to Marshall Munetsi rather than take the shot, but his pass was just out of Munetsi’s reach.

Nervous City fans had barely had a chance to catch their breath when Rayan Ait-Nouri had a double chance for the visitors, rifling his first off the post and then having his follow-up effort cleared off the line by Josko Gvardiol.

City stepped it up soon after and 20-year-old Nico O’Reilly unleashed a shot that was deflected just past the post.

Wolves, however, did not take their foot off the gas and Matheus Cunha hammered a shot off the upright early in the second half.

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