Manchester City 3-0 Sunderland: Cherki Shines as Haaland and Foden Seal Dominant Win

Cherki was a bright spark throughout the match, creating a chance early on for Silva with his pass slotting between two Sunderland defenders, but the eventual chance was spurned with his shot curling wide of the far-left corner. City’s pressure was sustained with Foden’s chipped pass over Roefs aimed towards Haaland, who was unable to convert into an empty net.

The deadlock was broken in the 31st minute when Cherki played a simple pass to Dias, who set himself quickly before rifling a shot from 30 yards into the top corner to make it 1-0. Only three minutes later, Gvardiol doubled City’s lead following an inswinging corner from Foden, being met by Gvardiol’s powerful leap and evading the defender standing on the line to make it 2-0.

City maintained this pressure in the second half. Nico O’Reilly dragged his shot narrowly wide of the right post in the 50th minute, and just a minute later Doku drifted inside to curl his shot into the bottom-right corner and hit the post, Foden unable to profit off the rebound.

In the 52nd minute Sunderland would have their only shot on target of the game, a huge chance caused by miscontrol by Dias in the box which released Isidor one-on-one against Donnarumma, the Italian reacting quickly to close Isidor down and saving superbly.

Sunderland then came close again in the 54th minute, their corner falling kindly to the feet of Xhaka whose near-post shot beat the keeper and thumped the post before being cleared by Dias, causing Donnarumma to celebrate wildly.

This would be the end of Sunderland’s attacking threat, the danger again caused by Cherki dancing through the Sunderland defence as he edged his way towards Roefs, leaving Ballard in the splits and chipping a cross towards Haaland, who could not connect well with the ball and had his shot cleared off the line by Geertruida.

Cherki’s creative play was then rewarded in the 65th minute Haaland picked up the ball in the middle of the park and spread it to Silva and then to Cherki, who faked a cross before producing a pinpoint rabona cross towards Foden, whose header was almost as beautiful as the cross, bouncing in off the underside of the bar to make it 3-0.

A poor short corner from Sunderland in the 75th minute was picked up by Doku and ended up with Cherki, who decided this time not to turn provider. He cut in and produced a venomous low shot; however, Roefs reacted quickly and got a hand to it to concede a corner.

There was late drama in the 93rd minute with O’Nien catching Nunes on the calf with a high foot, initially awarded as a yellow but overturned to a red following a VAR check.

Cherki was the standout performer for City, providing assists and coming close to scoring himself whilst maintaining a flamboyance and flair above all others on the pitch. With this result, City now sit in second and close the gap on Arsenal down to two points, whilst Sunderland currently sit in seventh, subject to change with the results of other games this week. Manchester City now turn their attention to their Champions League fixture against Real Madrid at the Bernabeu, and Sunderland prepare for next week’s Tyne-Wear derby, which is sure to be a fiery encounter.