City beat Sunderland 5-3 despite Brobbey’s hat-trick

Manchester City have defeated Sunderland 5-3 in a goal-filled match despite Bryan Brobbey’s hat-trick. There were successive attacks, counter-attacks and the drama of the lead changing five times. Five goals were scored in the first half alone and three more after the break. Pep Guardiola’s team had the last laugh.

With the win City have further strengthened their position in the Premier League points table. Their gap with Arsenal, who are in second place, is now 3 points.

From the start of the match both teams kept playing attacking football. City went ahead in the ninth minute itself. Enzo Fernandes sent the ball into Sunderland’s net with a superb curling shot from a free-kick. This was his first goal in the Manchester City jersey.

However, Sunderland did not break down even after conceding the goal. They returned to parity a short while later. Receiving the ball from Enzo Le Fee’s pass, Bryan Brobbey found the target with a cool head. After that both teams jumped into attacks. Rayan Cherki again put City ahead by snatching the ball from Sunderland’s build-up.

Even after City’s second goal the home side could not take control of the match. Sunderland again created an attack from Le Fee’s pass. Receiving the ball floated by Thomas Munier, Brobbey scored his second goal. After VAR review on the possibility of offside the goal was declared valid. Just before the break Antoine Semenyo scored the third goal for City. As a result City went into the break leading 3-2.

The pace of the match slowed down a little at the start of the second half. However, after 60 minutes had passed City found the net again. Receiving the pass from Marc Guehi, Semenyo sent the ball into the far corner with a left-footed shot. This was his second goal in the match and City’s lead increased to 4-2.

But Sunderland did not give up either. Excitement returned to the match within a gap of just two minutes. From Granit Xhaka’s pass Nilson Angulo floated the ball towards Brobbey. This Dutch forward scored his third goal by piercing City’s defence. This was Brobbey’s first hat-trick in the Premier League.

After that Sunderland made desperate attempts to return to parity. City then tried to go on the attack as well while keeping control of the ball and wasting time. At one stage Sunderland got the opportunity to return to parity due to a mistake by goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma. However, the danger was averted by Ruben Dias’s timely intervention.

Finally in the 81st minute City determined the fate of the match. Erling Haaland scored from Josko Gvardiol’s cross. With this the home side went ahead 5-3 and Sunderland’s possibility of making a comeback also ended. Through this goal the Norwegian striker achieved the feat of scoring against every team he has played against in the Premier League so far.

Meanwhile, in the other match of the day Liverpool defeated Bournemouth 1-0. The only goal of the match was scored by Alexander Isak.