Manchester City beat Sunderland 5-3 at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday, in a match they led three times in the first half and could not settle until the 81st minute. Brian Brobbey scored a hat-trick for the visitors and finished on the losing side.
Enzo Fernández put City in front in the 9th minute, shooting to the near post as Sunderland set for a cross. Brobbey equalised in the 12th, lifting Enzo Le Fée's ball over Gianluigi Donnarumma. Rayan Cherki restored the lead in the 29th, Brobbey levelled again in the 33rd, and Antoine Semenyo put City ahead for the third time in the 43rd.
Semenyo scored again in the 57th minute and Brobbey completed his hat-trick in the 59th. Erling Haaland settled it in the 81st, turning in Joško Gvardiol's cross after the offside flag against him was overturned.
Three leads in one half is close to unheard of
According to Opta, this was only the seventh Premier League match in which a side has taken the lead three times in a single half, and the first since Brentford played Wolves in October 2024.
That is a statistic about City's finishing and Sunderland's refusal to go away. Régis Le Bris's side scored three times at the home of a team with a perfect record, hit the post late on through Dan Ballard, and lost to a goal 10 minutes from the end.
Brobbey joined a very short list
Brobbey is the first Sunderland player to score a top-flight hat-trick since Jermain Defoe in 2016, Opta said, and only the sixth player in Premier League history to score one in a defeat. He is also the fourth to score a hat-trick against the side top of the table, after Robbie Fowler, Dirk Kuyt and Romelu Lukaku.
Haaland's goal completed a collection of his own. Sunderland had kept him out twice last season, and City confirmed this was the first time he had scored against them: he has now scored against all 25 Premier League opponents he has faced. It was Le Bris's 100th match in charge.
Enzo Maresca was not inclined to celebrate the manner of it. Two of the three goals City conceded came from free-kicks, he said, one of them taken quickly by Granit Xhaka.
To be honest, I prefer to win 1-0 than 5-3 but I expected a very difficult game. I know how good they are. Off the ball, they are very aggressive, on the ball they have different weapons. For example, Brobbey.
Enzo Maresca, speaking to mancity.com
Le Bris took the performance, and queried one decision
Sunderland arrived three days after their first European win in 53 years, 1-0 at AZ Alkmaar. Le Bris said the level was there and the finishing was not.
We created many chances, probably deserved to score two or three more goals. At that level against one of the best teams in Europe, half chances get punished and it's probably the lesson of the day.
Régis Le Bris, speaking to the Sunderland Echo
He also told the Echo he believed Sunderland should have had a penalty for a handball by Elliot Anderson on Le Fée early in the second half, at 3-2. Semenyo scored City's fourth moments later. Le Bris said the decision was never explained.
City have won all five of their league matches and hold 15 points, the only perfect record in the division after five rounds. The win moved them three points clear of Arsenal, the day after Arsenal's 3-0 defeat at Brighton ended the champions' unbeaten start. Maresca is the sixth manager to win his first five Premier League games at a new club, a list that includes his predecessor, Pep Guardiola.
Both clubs now break for three weeks. Sunderland host Brighton at the Stadium of Light on Saturday 10 October, and City return the following day at Anfield.
