Manchester City 5-3 Sunderland: Fernandez 9, Cherki 29, Semenyo 43, 57, Haaland 81; Brobbey 12, 33, 59
Enzo Maresca said this would be the toughest game of the season for Manchester City but few could have predicted this wild contest at the Etihad.
In the end, City outscored Sunderland 5-3 to move three points clear at the top of the Premier League before the international break, but Maresca will have plenty to address when the Premier League resumes three weeks from now.
His side have extended their winning league run to five matches, but the scoreline was a good reflection of how defensively weak they were as they repeatedly surrendered control.
Or perhaps Sunderland were just simply that good. They sliced City apart every now and then and Brian Brobbey completed a hat-trick as they pursued a point, but City a late Erling Haaland goal finally settled the contest in favour of the home team.
Enzo Fernandez opened the scoring in the ninth minute with a clever free-kick. Iliman Ndiaye had been brought down by Dayann Methalie near the right side of the penalty area, and Fernandez exploited the space at Robin Roefs’s near post, catching the goalkeeper out to score his first goal since joining City.
Sunderland responded almost immediately when Enzo Le Fee found Brian Brobbey between Ruben Dias and Matheus Nunes, and the striker flicked the ball past Gianluigi Donnarumma to make it 1-1.
City regained the lead when Sunderland were caught trying to play out from the back. Kevin Danso’s error created confusion inside the visitors’ area and Rayan Cherki took advantage to restore City’s advantage.
Again Sunderland refused to fold. Le Fee released Thomas Meunier with an excellent disguised pass, and the latter’s low ball across goal was easily turned in by the unmarked Brobbey. It was a sublime team effort and the goal survived a lengthy VAR check.
City eventually reached half-time ahead. Cherki’s delivery caused a scramble in the Sunderland defence and Antoine Semenyo arrived to drive the ball into the net.
There could have been even more goals. Haaland missed an excellent chance after being set up by Ndiaye, and Brobbey came close to completing his hat-trick when a deflected effort was pushed on to the crossbar by Donnarumma.
Maresca’s team made it 4-2 early in the second half when Cherki’s pass for Haaland hit a Sunderland defender and fell perfectly for Semenyo, who finished emphatically for his second.
That should have given City some breathing room but Sunderland continued to threaten. Angulo’s run in behind was picked up by a searching long pass. Angulo controlled, and then squared again for Brobbey to complete his hat-trick and reduce the deficit to one.
City then came close to throwing away their advantage altogether. Donnarumma failed to deal convincingly with a cross and the ball rebounded off Dias towards his own goal as he tried to keep it from reaching an opposing shirt. The defender recovered quickly enough to sprint back and acrobatically clear it off the line.
The home side heeded the warning and with nine minutes remaining, Josko Gvardiol broke forward down the left and sent the ball across the area. There was no mistake this time for Haaland as he arrived at the far post to tap in City’s fifth.
