Manchester City beat Sunderland 5-3 in Premier League goal-fest

Manchester City maintained their perfect start to the Premier League season with a wild 5-3 victory over Sunderland. The win at the Etihad Stadium keeps Enzo Maresca's side top of the standings with a maximum 12 points from four games, having scored eight goals and conceded just two.

Enzo Fernández opened the scoring for City after nine minutes, but Brian Brobbey levelled for the visitors just three minutes later. Rayan Cherki restored the lead on the half-hour mark, only for Brobbey to equalise again for Sunderland. Antoine Semenyo then gave City the lead for a third time just before half-time, finishing off a pass from Marc Guehi.

Semenyo added his second and City's fourth in the 57th minute, but Sunderland refused to go away. Brobbey completed his hat-trick almost immediately, making it 4-3 and setting up a tense final half-hour. Erling Haaland finally sealed the points for the champions with nine minutes remaining, heading in from a Josko Gvardiol cross to take his personal tally to four goals this season. This victory extends City's winning run in all competitions to five matches, a sequence that includes a 5-0 win over Norwich and a 1-0 victory at Manchester United.

City had 55 per cent of the possession but were out-shot by Sunderland, who managed 17 attempts to the hosts' 16. The visitors also put more shots on target, forcing Gianluigi Donnarumma into four saves. The only booking of the game went to Sunderland's Dayann Methalie for an early foul.

Maresca made two changes in the second half, sending on Jeremy Doku and Nico O'Reilly for Iliman Ndiaye and Cherki. The manager will be pleased with the team's recent form, which shows four wins from four in the league, and will now prepare for the next fixtures, a trip to Anfield to face Liverpool on 11 October. The depth of the squad will be key for that encounter, especially with key players like Haaland in such prolific form, as reflected in the team's stats.