Manchester City beat Sunderland in humdinger to maintain 100% league start
Brian Brobbey's hat-trick for Sunderland could not prevent Manchester City opening up a three-point lead at the top of the Premier League after a thrilling 5-3 win, while Liverpool beat Bournemouth 1-0 on Andoni Iraola's return to the south coast.
- Sports
- Reuters
- Published Date: 06:29 PM 20 September 2026
Manchester City head into the first international break three points clear at the top of the Premier League after Antoine Semenyo's double sealed an enthralling 5-3 home win over Sunderland, for whom Brian Brobbey grabbed a hat-trick, on Sunday.
A pulsating clash at a sunny Etihad Stadium saw Sunderland twice equalise and the result was in the balance until Erling Haaland got on the scoresheet late on to seal the points and maintain City's 100% start to the league season.
Liverpool manager Andoni Iraola returned to his old club Bournemouth and celebrated only his second Premier League win since taking charge at Anfield as Alexander Isak's second-half goal secured a 1-0 win.
Leeds United remain unbeaten but missed the chance to move into the top four when they drew 0-0 at home to Crystal Palace.
FIRST CITY GOAL FOR FERNANDEZ
Later on Sunday, Manchester United will try to shake off a poor start to the campaign when they go to Fulham who are looking to move off the bottom of the table.
Sunderland began strongly at City but were stunned in the ninth minute when Enzo Fernandez curled a free kick past goalkeeper Robin Roefs for his first goal since his record-equalling £125-million ($167.41-million) move from Chelsea.
The visitors deservedly levelled three minutes later when Brobbey took an Enzo Le Fee pass and placed a shot past Gianluigi Donnarumma but Rayan Cherki restored City's lead in the 29th minute when the ball fell to him in the box and he poked home.
Brobbey was a constant menace though and he equalised when he converted into an empty net from a Thomas Meunier assist.
City went in ahead after a breathless first half after Semenyo finished emphatically past Roefs.
Semenyo gave City breathing space in the 57th minute with a close-range finish after Sunderland's defence failed to clear the ball. But Sunderland, and Brobbey, were not finished.
Brobbey applied the finishing touch to a shot by Nilson Angulo to become the first Sunderland player to score a Premier League hat-trick since Jermaine Defoe in 2016.
Only some desperate defending stopped Sunderland levelling for the third time but Haaland finally got his goal to put the game beyond the reach of the valiant visitors.