Manchester City beat Sunderland 5-3 as Brobbey hat-trick ends in defeat

Manchester CityManchester CityPremier League · England2nd POS23–9–6 W-D-L beat Sunderland 5-3 at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday to stay top of the Premier LeaguePremier LeagueEngland5 CLUBS95 MATCHES with a fifth win from five matches, even though Brobbey scored a hat-trick for the visitors. Antoine Semenyo scored twice, either side of half-time, and Enzo Fernández, Rayan Cherki and Erling HaalandErling HaalandMan City · Norway · Forward each added a goal for the home side.

2025/26

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POS

2nd

W-D-L

23–9–6

GF

77

GA

35

Season 2025/26

How the eight goals were shared

Semenyo was the only City player to score more than once, finding the net both before and after the interval. Haaland, Cherki and Fernández each contributed a single goal. All three of Sunderland's goals came from Brobbey, so no other visiting player got on the scoresheet.

The game is reported to have been an end-to-end contest in which the league leaders were given several scares. Scoring three times away from home would ordinarily be enough to take something from a match; here it brought nothing.

Why the win matters to Manchester City

Werner100359 · CC BY-SA 4.0

Five wins from five leaves City top of the table in the opening weeks of the campaign, setting the pace for the rest of the division. The note of caution sits at the other end of the pitch: a side with title ambitions will not enjoy conceding three at home, however entertaining the match was.

Brobbey's hat-trick in a losing cause

Werner100359 · CC BY-SA 4.0

A hat-trick normally decides a game. This one did not, and Brobbey's three goals earned Sunderland only the encouragement of having troubled the league leaders on their own ground. Whether that says more about Sunderland's attack or about City's defending is not something the scoreline settles.

For Sunderland, the three goals are the obvious takeaway from the afternoon. A team that scores three at the home of the side topping the table has caused real problems, and turning that threat into points is the next step.

What is not yet known

Goal times have not been confirmed, so the sequence of the eight goals is unclear. It is also not established whether this was Brobbey's first Premier League hat-trick. Neither club has commented publicly on the match, and neither has issued an injury update, so nothing is known yet about availability for the fixtures that follow.

City's next task is to protect a perfect record; Sunderland's is to work out how three goals produced no points. The table after the weekend shows City at the top with five wins from five, and Sunderland with a hat-trick to show for a defeat.