Brobbey Hat-Trick Not Enough as Liverpool Edge Bournemouth 1-0
Manchester City opened up a three-point lead at the top of the Premier League after beating Sunderland 5-3 in a thrilling encounter at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday.
City took advantage of Arsenal’s 3-0 defeat to Brighton on Saturday but were made to work for the victory despite taking the lead three times.
Enzo Fernandez opened the scoring with a free-kick that caught Sunderland goalkeeper Robin Roefs out at his near post.
Sunderland responded through Brian Brobbey, who finished Enzo Le Fee’s pass before Rayan Cherki restored City’s advantage with a fine finish.
Brobbey equalised again four minutes later, but Antoine Semenyo put City back in front before half-time. Semenyo added another shortly before the hour mark to give City a two-goal cushion.
Brobbey completed his hat-trick after Nilson Angulo beat Gianluigi Donnarumma to a ball over the top, while Sunderland came close to an equaliser when Donnarumma’s errors created danger and Ruben Dias had to clear an effort off the line.
Erling Haaland eventually settled the contest for City, scoring to maintain his record of having found the net against every Premier League side he has faced.
The victory extends City manager Enzo Maresca’s perfect start since succeeding Pep Guardiola.
At Bournemouth, Liverpool secured a 1-0 victory over the Cherries on Andoni Iraola’s return to the south coast.
Iraola received a warm reception from Bournemouth fans after previously leading the club into Europe before moving to Liverpool. His side struggled to create clear opportunities but secured the points when Cody Gakpo’s cross fell for Alexander Isak to score his fourth goal of the season.
The win moved Liverpool up to sixth, one point behind third-placed Brighton.
Leeds United missed the opportunity to move into third after being held to a goalless draw by Crystal Palace.
Tyrick Mitchell thought he had put Palace ahead in the second half, but the goal was ruled out for offside.
Manchester United were set to face bottom-placed Fulham later on Sunday as manager Michael Carrick looked to end a difficult start to the season. United had collected four points from their opening four league games and were eliminated from the League Cup by Brighton after surrendering a 2-0 lead.