Manchester City 5-3 Sunderland: Brian Brobbey Hat-trick Not Enough As Black Cats Poor In Defence

Sunderland fell to a 5-3 defeat against Premier League leaders Manchester City on Sunday afternoon, despite Black Cats number nine Brian Brobbey netting a hat-trick for Regis Le Bris' side.

Sunderland equalised twice through the Dutchman before Antoine Semenyo put City ahead before half-time, with the Ghanaian winger netting his brace in the second 45' before Brobbey bagged his third and Erling Haaland got on the scoresheet to see the dramatic clash end 5-3 to Enzo Maresca's side.

Maresca was expecting a difficult test from Sunderland, and the Black Cats certainly provided that, but their costly defensive errors were punished at the Etihad to see the gutsy performance go unrewarded.

Regis Le Bris made several changes from Sunderland’s 1-0 win over AZ Alkmaar in the Europa League, with Dayann Methalie making his first Premier League start in place of suspended Reinildo, and the likes of Brian Brobbey, Nilson Angulo, Thomas Meunier and Dan Ballard coming in for Wilson Isidor, Malick Fofana, Trai Hume and Omar Alderete respectively.

Sunderland had a golden opportunity to go one goal ahead within the first few minutes, with Noah Sadiki slipping in Enzo Le Fee down the right flank, but the Frenchman’s squared ball was wastefully squandered by Angulo. 

City broke away shortly afterwards, with top flight debutant Methalie booked after eight minutes for a failed recovery tackle, of which Enzo Fernandez inventively dispatched passed the bemused Robin Roefs to see the £125m summer signing from Chelsea open his Man City account and break the deadlock against the run of play. 

Sunderland bounced back swiftly, with Brian Brobbey receiving a beautifully weighted incisive pass from Le Fee, netting calmly past the onrushing Gianluigi Donnarumma with a deft finish to see the Black Cats' top goalscorer from last season get off the mark this term. 

An instant response from Sunderland to bring the game back on level terms, and nothing less than the Black Cats deserved for their confident opening showing, considering City had not touched the ball in the visitors’ box within the first 18 minutes. 

City retook the lead on the 30-minute mark, with Rayan Cherki finishing the chance after some loose possession at the back for Sunderland, but the Black Cats responded rapidly once again. 

Brobbey bagged his second of the afternoon to bring the scores back level, tapping into an empty City net two beautiful reverse passes from Le Fee and Meunier and rounding off a dynamic Sunderland attack in comfortable style. 

City went ahead for the third time just ten minutes later with a venomous strike from former Sunderland loanee Antoine Semenyo getting the better of Roefs. 

Moments later, it was almost four, with usual goal-machine Erling Haaland malfunctioning on his right foot to miss a golden opportunity to double City’s lead.

Don't forget to sign up for FREE. It takes 30 seconds and means you can comment, like, and receive notifications when we post an article! Click JOIN at the top.

Brobbey almost had his hat-trick moments before the interval with his looping shot troubling Donnarumma, and the resulting corner seeing the City goalkeeper called into action from a Kevin Danso header to see the exciting clash end 3-2 at half-time. 

Overall, in the first 45’, Sunderland were incredible in attack with Le Fee and Brobbey connecting beautifully, but the Black Cats’ defence had been punished by City for shooting themselves in the foot in possession.

Sunderland started the second half brightly, seeing Sadiki spurn a long-range strike on his left foot after breaking through the City midfield line. 

Brobbey continued to dominate the physical battle against Dias, which led to a breakthrough for Le Fee that was wasted by the inventive Frenchman with a wasteful backheel pass attempt. 

Moments later, Sunderland once again caused their own defensive downfall to see Semenyo net his brace, after Mukiele and Danso both failed to intercept a through ball from Cherki which the former Bournemouth winger dispatched exquisitely. 

Incredibly, it took Sunderland two minutes to get one back, with a gorgeous lofted pass from captain Granit Xhaka finding Angulo, who squared it to Brobbey to fire into the City net for his hat-trick.

His trio of goals saw the bullish Dutchman become the first Sunderland player to score a Premier League hat-trick since club legend Jermain Defoe in 2016, and the first to net three in the same top flight against City since 2020.

A floated ball in from Xhaka saw Ballard win the header which Dias almost converted inadvertently into his own net before clearing off the line, with another Sunderland attack coming to see substitute Malick Fofana have a shot blocked by the City defence from close range. 

Within the final ten minutes, Haaland atoned for his earlier miss with a backpost finish to see the Norwegian net a goal against all 25 Premier League teams he has faced for City. 

A 90th-minute goalmouth scramble saw Ballard’s effort tipped wide by Donnarumma, with Sunderland pressing for their fourth throughout the final moments to see Fofana’s headed effort call the Italian international into action before the game ended 5-3 in favour of City. 

Overall, it was an exhilarating game of which Sunderland can take solace from for their attacking exploits, but they will journey back to Wearside with great regret at their multiple defensive errors which were ruthlessly punished by the Premier League leaders heading into the international break.