By SCM Sport Reporter at the Etihad Stadium
MANCHESTER CITY surged three points clear at the top of the Premier League table after coming out on top in an extraordinary eight-goal blockbuster against a fearless Sunderland side.
In one of the most wildly entertaining matches of the season, City’s star men Antoine Semenyo, Enzo Fernández, Rayan Cherki, and Erling Haaland all found the back of the net to overcome a breath-taking hat-trick performance from Black Cats forward Brian Brobbey.
The madness began in the ninth minute when Enzo Fernández caught Sunderland goalkeeper Robin Roefs completely off guard, whipping a cheeky near-post free-kick into the top corner from an impossible angle to put Enzo Maresca’s side ahead.
Sunderland, refusing to lay down, struck back just three minutes later. Enzo Le Fée delivered an exquisite, defense-splitting pass through to Brian Brobbey, who calmly beat Gianluigi Donnarumma in a one-on-one duel.
City regained the upper hand on 29 minutes when Dayann Methalie surrendered possession deep in his own half.
The impressive Antoine Semenyo picked out Rayan Cherki, who composed himself and steered a low shot through a crowded penalty box into the net. Yet again, Sunderland refused to go away. Four minutes later, Thomas Meunier broke down the right and picked out Brobbey, who tapped home his second goal of the afternoon following a lengthly VAR check for offside.
Right before the break, Semenyo turned from provider to scorer. Following a chaotic goalmouth scramble sparked by Marc Guéhi, the Ghanaian international reacted fastest and smashed a fierce finish into the bottom corner to make it 3-2 heading into half-time.
Semenyo doubled his personal tally twelve minutes into the second half, cutting inside from the left flank and drilling a low effort past Roefs at his near post.
But Sunderland’s star striker Brobbey completed a sensational hat-trick just two minutes later, turning in Nilson Angulo’s delivery to become the first Sunderland player to score a Premier League hat-trick since Jermain Defoe in 2016.
With Sunderland pushing hard for a fourth equalizer and hitting the post late on, City finally wrapped up the points in the 81st minute. Left-back Joško Gvardiol made a brilliant overlap and flashed a cross to the far post, where Erling Haaland slid the ball home.
Following another VAR intervention to overturn an initial offside flag, the goal was officially awarded, maintaining City’s 100% record in the league with five wins from five games.
Match Statistics Breakdown
In terms of overall match statistics, Manchester City held the lion’s share of possession at 57% compared to Sunderland’s 43%. City demonstrated superior passing accuracy with an 88% completion rate, stringing together 426 accurate passes out of 479 attempted, while the visitors registered an 84% passing accuracy by completing 316 of their 376 total passes.
Despite City dominating ball possession, Sunderland proved dangerous in transition, taking 16 total shots to City’s 15.
Both teams managed 6 shots on target, while City had 5 shots off goal and 4 attempts blocked, matching Sunderland’s 5 shots off target and 5 blocked shots.
Defensively, Sunderland put in a mammoth effort, making 26 clearances and completing 12 tackles out of 13 attempts for an outstanding 92% tackle success rate, compared to City’s 30 clearances and 4 tackles won from 5 attempts (80%).
City forced 6 corner kicks to Sunderland’s 5. Discipline remained intact across a fiery contest, with referee Robert Jones issuing just a single yellow card all match to Sunderland’s Dayann Methalie in the eighth minute, with both teams committing 14 fouls apiece.