Manchester City registered a fourth successive win in the Premier League after overcoming Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-0 on Friday evening.
Goalkeeper Ederson returned to keep goal for the Cityzens, who also welcomed back Erling Haaland from injury but he started on the bench.
City enjoyed a lot of the earlier possession stakes, but found difficulty getting runners in-behind the stern defensive-line of the visiting outfit.
The Cityzens were cut open a little later as Jean-Ricner Bellegrade sneaked behind to cutback for the on-rushing Marshall Munetsi, but the former overhit the delivery.
City upped the tempo seven minutes to halftime and were ahead when De Bruyne came inside to meet a cutback from Jeremy Doku and finished comfortably.
Wolves came out for the second half renewed and nearly levelled it up when Matheus Cunha gained possession outside the area and got a shot in, but the upright denied him.
At the same time, the host preferred to freshen their stall and introduced Manuel Akanji in the place of Nico O’Reilly who had conceded possession to Cunha.
De Bruyne, who netted the opener, remained pivotal inside the midway point of the second half as he initiated attacks from deep and track-back to help defensively too.
Wolves' bright spell continued in the latter stages of the clash, but the home team didn’t lose focus and maintained their narrow advantage.
City made more substitutions in the final five minutes, with Phil Foden coming on for De Bruyne and James McAtee replacing Ilkay Gundogan in the midfield.
In the end, the Cityzens claimed a fourth successive win and move up to third spot on the league table.