Manchester City head into the extended international break three points clear at the top of the Premier League after edging a completely bonkers, gloriously chaotic eight-goal thriller against Sunderland, winning 5-3.
Enzo Maresca’s side knew that any positive result would see them open up a gap on nearest rivals Arsenal after Mikel Arteta’s side slumped to defeat at Brighton on Saturday.
But Maresca surely did not plan to do it in the chaotic manner that transpired, with City trading blows with Sunderland as though it were a training match.
Enzo Fernandez’s clever free-kick put City ahead inside nine minutes, but that was merely the beginning of the pandemonium. Rayan Cherki and Antoine Semenyo also found the net in a first half that produced five goals, with Sunderland’s undefendable striker Brian Brobbey grabbing two.
City’s performance was littered with mistakes, particularly defensively, as Brobbey bullied Ruben Dias and completed a remarkable 33-minute hat-trick after Semenyo had netted his second of the afternoon to make it 4-2 in favour of the hosts.
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Erling Haaland had the final say, breaking his Sunderland duck to complete the Premier League set, having now found the net against all 25 opponents he has faced in the English top flight. Just another astonishing subplot from a ridiculous afternoon.
As a whole, the game could not have been further removed from the picture of control so often associated with Pep Guardiola’s City. Out of possession, Maresca’s blueprint left them alarmingly open, with Sunderland needing little invitation to exploit the gaps.
Brobbey accumulated a personal expected goals value greater than every Premier League team this weekend, bar his own.
Brobbey is the sixth instance of a player scoring a Premier League hat-trick but ending the match on the losing side, and the first since Roque Santa Cruz for Blackburn in 2007.
Sunderland might have left the Etihad empty handed but do so with plenty of credit after an attacking display that arguably outshone City’s, registering nine shots on target. City’s players sank to their knees at the final whistle, a clear indication of just how close they came to letting victory slip in the to and fro of such an intense battle.
“I prefer to win 1-0 than 5-3,” Maresca concluded with a smile. “But I knew how difficult it would be.”
SuperSport
