Manchester City Beat Sunderland 5-3 Despite Brobbey’s Hat-Trick

Manchester City maintained their perfect Premier League start with a chaotic 5-3 win over Sunderland at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday 20 September. Enzo Fernandez, Rayan Cherki, Antoine Semenyo twice and Erling Haaland scored for Enzo Maresca’s side, while Brian Brobbey claimed a hat-trick for Sunderland in defeat.

The victory was City’s fifth from five league matches and, with Arsenal beaten at Brighton the previous day, took them three points clear at the top going into the international break.

Eight goals, three City leads in one half

The game began at a frantic pace. Fernandez put City ahead with a clever free-kick after nine minutes, but Brobbey equalised three minutes later from Enzo Le Fee’s pass. Cherki restored the lead on 29 minutes, only for Brobbey to level again on 33 minutes, this time from Thomas Meunier’s delivery.

Semenyo made it 3-2 just before half-time after an assist from Marc Guehi. City became only the seventh team in Premier League history to take the lead three separate times in the first half of a match.

The chaos continued after the break. Semenyo scored his second on 57 minutes, reacting fastest when Cherki’s attempted through ball ricocheted into his path. Two minutes later Brobbey completed his hat-trick, prodding into an empty net after Nilson Angulo beat Gianluigi Donnarumma to a superb Granit Xhaka delivery.

Sunderland almost equalised when Donnarumma failed to claim a cross, but Ruben Dias cleared off the line. Haaland then settled the contest with under ten minutes left, turning in Josko Gvardiol’s low cross at the far post. The goal was initially ruled out for offside before VAR overturned the decision.

• Result: Manchester City 5-3 Sunderland, Sunday 20 September 2026.
• City scorers: Enzo Fernandez (9), Rayan Cherki (29), Antoine Semenyo (43, 57), Erling Haaland (82).
• Sunderland scorer: Brian Brobbey (12, 33, 59).
• City led 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2 in the first half alone.
• Haaland has now scored against all 25 Premier League opponents he has faced.

Maresca and Le Bris react

Maresca admitted he would have preferred a calmer afternoon. “I prefer to win 1-0 than 5-3,” he told Sky Sports, “but I knew how difficult it would be.” It was another demonstration of his side’s attacking power, but also of a vulnerability that opponents will look to exploit.

Sunderland head coach Regis Le Bris, who took charge of his 100th match, was proud of his team’s approach. “We didn’t compromise our identity,” he said, adding that “every small mistake gets punished at this level.” According to The Analyst, Le Bris is the first Sunderland manager to reach 100 matches since Roy Keane.

The goalscorers themselves show the range of City’s attack under Maresca, who has quickly put his own stamp on the team since taking charge in the summer. Fernandez, whose clever ninth-minute free-kick opened the scoring, brings set-piece quality and real composure to the middle of the pitch. Cherki’s goal showed his ability to find space between the lines, and Semenyo, who also scored in last season’s FA Cup quarter-final win over Liverpool, has become a reliable source of goals from wide areas. Haaland did not need to dominate to make a decisive contribution.

Guehi’s assist for the third goal is another detail worth noting. Centre-backs contributing in attack have been a feature of City’s play for several years, and his involvement indicates how Maresca wants his defenders to step into midfield and join the build-up.

Brobbey’s remarkable afternoon

Brobbey’s hat-trick was one of the stories of the weekend. The Dutch striker scored all three Sunderland goals, each time responding to a City lead or a City goal, and gave City’s defence a torrid time. The Analyst noted that it was only the sixth instance of a player scoring a Premier League hat-trick and ending on the losing side.

The quality of the service also stood out. Le Fee, Meunier and the combination of Xhaka and Angulo created the openings, showing that Sunderland were not relying on luck or long balls. They attacked City directly and found space behind a defence that looked uncomfortable against pace and physicality.

Analysis: City’s attack is flying, but the defence needs work

City’s attacking numbers are formidable. Five goals, five different moments of quality, and a spread of scorers that includes new and established players. Fernandez’s set-piece skill, Cherki’s creativity and Semenyo’s directness complement Haaland’s finishing, and Maresca has quickly built a side that plays with confidence.

Yet conceding three at home to Sunderland is not the kind of statistic Maresca will accept for long. Donnarumma’s hesitation on a cross nearly cost a fourth goal, and the defensive line struggled to cope with Brobbey’s movement. A 1-0 win, as the manager said, would have been far more comfortable.

There is a broader pattern here. City have won every league game, but not every win has been controlled. In a season when Arsenal have just shown their own vulnerability and Brighton are rising, City’s ability to keep winning while not at their best is an asset. But the next phase of fixtures, including a trip to Anfield and a Champions League home match against holders Paris Saint-Germain, will test that defence far more severely.

• City: five wins from five, three points clear at the top.
• Semenyo’s two goals underline his growing importance under Maresca.
• Sunderland have shown they can hurt the best teams on the counter.
• City’s next league game is at Liverpool on 11 October.

What it means

For City supporters in Malaysia, the late-evening kick-off local time delivered a spectacle that was worth the wait. Few matches this season will match the drama of three first-half leads and a VAR-awarded Haaland goal. For neutral viewers, it was a reminder of how entertaining the Premier League can be when two attacking teams refuse to be cautious.

For Maresca, the international break arrives at a good time to work on the defensive details. For Le Bris, the lesson is that Sunderland can compete, even if the result went against them. Both managers will take plenty from a match that was as much about attacking brilliance as it was about defensive fragility, and both will know that the margins at the top level remain very small.