Manchester City vs Sunderland — Premier League: stats, lineups & analysis
HighlightsMan CityYouTubeMatch Events
- 8′Sunderland, yellow card:Foul
- 9′Manchester City, goal:1–0
- 12′Sunderland, goal:1–1assist
- 29′Manchester City, goal:2–1assist
- 33′Sunderland, goal:2–2assist
- 43′Manchester City, goal:3–2assist
- Half-time3 – 2
- 57′Manchester City, goal:4–2
- 59′Sunderland, goal:4–3assist
- 60′Sunderland, substitution:off
- 68′Sunderland, substitution:off
- 75′Manchester City, substitution:off
- 79′Sunderland, substitution:off
- 81′Manchester City, goal:5–3assist
- 83′Manchester City, VAR review:Goal confirmed
- 85′Manchester City, substitution:off
- Full-time5 – 3
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Manchester City
Sunderland
Match report
Manchester City edge eight-goal thriller with Sunderland at the Etihad
Manchester City won 5-3 against Sunderland in a Premier League fixture at the Etihad Stadium, a match that swung repeatedly before the home side pulled clear. The result kept Maresca's team top of the table on 15 points from five games, while Le Sunderland side remain 14th after a fixture that offered little defensive control from either side.
AI-assisted match report written from official match data.
The hosts led early through Enzo Fernández in the 9th minute, only for Brian Brobbey to level three minutes later after Enzo Le Fée's assist. Rayan Cherki restored City's lead in the 29th minute, teed up by Antoine Semenyo, before Brobbey struck again, this time from Thomas Meunier's pass, to make it 2-2 at the half-hour mark. Semenyo then put City back in front on 43 minutes, assisted by Marc-Israel Guéhi, leaving the score 3-2 at half-time.
Semenyo added a fourth for City seven minutes into the second half, but Brobbey completed his hat-trick moments later, finishing an Nilson Angulo assist to make it 4-3. Erling Haaland settled the contest in the 81st minute, converting a Joško Gvardiol assist to make it 5-3, a lead City held to the final whistle despite Sunderland's late pressure.
City had 55 per cent of possession and 16 shots to Sunderland's 17, though the away side had more shots on target, nine to six, reflecting the open, end-to-end nature of the contest at the Etihad Stadium.
Brobbey scored all three of Sunderland's goals in a losing effort, finishing with a rating of 9.67, the highest of any player on the pitch. Semenyo, meanwhile, contributed two goals and an assist for City as the home side eventually pulled clear.
Despite conceding five, Sunderland actually out-shot City on target nine to six, underlining how porous both defences were on the day.
Manchester City beat Sunderland 5–3 (half-time 3–2).
Manchester City met Sunderland in the Premier League (Regular Season - 5). Kick-off was Sunday, 20 September 2026, 13:00 UTC at Etihad Stadium. Referee: Robert Jones.
Team pages: Manchester City · Sunderland · Premier League
Key moments
- 9' Goal: Enzo Fernández — 1–0
- 12' Goal: Brian Brobbey (assist: Enzo Le Fée) — 1–1
- 29' Goal: Rayan Cherki (assist: Antoine Semenyo) — 2–1
- 33' Goal: Brian Brobbey (assist: Thomas Meunier) — 2–2
- 43' Goal: Antoine Semenyo (assist: Marc Guéhi) — 3–2
- 57' Goal: Antoine Semenyo — 4–2
- 59' Goal: Brian Brobbey (assist: Nilson Angulo) — 4–3
- 81' Goal: Erling Haaland (assist: Joško Gvardiol) — 5–3
Starting line-ups
Manchester City (4-2-3-1)
Sunderland (4-2-3-1)
Sirius · Why these numbers
Before kick-off Sirius gave Manchester City 78%, the draw 13%, Sunderland 9%. It finished Manchester City 5–3 Sunderland.
Manchester City's rating gap decides it — Manchester City are clearly the stronger side on our strength rating, and that is most of Manchester City's 78%. The draw at 13% is lifted by the early-season fade in home wins.
Why Manchester City at 78%?
Manchester City sit 441 points higher on our strength rating — 2215 to 1774. Sides with a more than 300-point rating edge at home won 79.8% of 5,141 such games. The 300 most similar past games finished 82–9–9.
Why not higher?
Both sides are inside their first six league games — home wins land softer this early in the season, so this trims Manchester City's column. Across 11,218 opening-stretch games since 2010, home sides won 42.7% where the rating map expected 44.9%, with draws up 2.0 — negative in every season since 2018.
Why is the draw only 13%?
With a rating gap this size the draw starts at 9.9%. These teams' recent games average 2.2 goals — a low-scoring environment. Games in that environment drew 28.1% of 18,230. Early-season fixtures add 2.0 points to the draw. The goals environment adds 1.3 points to the draw.
What did we measure but not count?
Manchester City have averaged 13 percentage points more possession than Sunderland in recent games. That doesn’t change our forecast here. Sunderland have gained 114 strength-rating points over their last 10 games. Momentum is measured but not yet proven: climbing sides won 41.4% of 12,419 such games vs 40.6% class-expected — inside the noise band, so it stays at 0 points until the receipt clears its evidence bar. The other measured facts on this page scored nothing either.
Sirius probabilities, frozen at kick-off. Analysis, not betting advice. How Sirius is doing this season · Full breakdown, evidence cards and squad news in the Match Insights tab
About this match
On this page: the Manchester City vs Sunderland final score and result, goal highlights and video clips of every goal, who scored, starting lineups, match stats and the full match report from this Premier League fixture.
- Who scored and when — a goal-by-goal timeline of the match.
- Match stats — possession, shots, expected goals (xG), corners and cards.
- Starting lineups and player ratings for both teams.
- Head-to-head record and recent form for both sides.
Watch the goals: goal highlights and video clips of every goal from Manchester City 5–3 Sunderland. Explore more on the Manchester City and Sunderland team pages or the Premier League page.