THE FUSE

By Razeen Gutta

Manchester City moved top of the Premier League after surviving a Brian Brobbey hat-trick to beat Sunderland 5-3 in a chaotic thriller at the Etihad on Sunday.

City capitalised on Arsenal’s 3-0 shock loss at Brighton, but were pushed all the way by the Black Cats, who had won their first European game in 53 years in midweek.

Enzo Fernandez marked his big money move from Chelsea with a near-post free-kick to open the scoring. Brobbey levelled from Enzo Le Fee’s pass, before Rayan Cherki’s slick finish restored City’s lead.

Sunderland hit back again four minutes later, only for Antoine Semenyo to smash City 3-2 ahead before the break and then make it 4-2 on the hour.

Brobbey completed his treble after Nilson Angulo beat Gianluigi Donnarumma to a long ball, and Ruben Dias had to clear off the line after more nerves from the Italian keeper.

Erling Haaland finally struck to seal the points, maintaining his record of scoring against every Premier League opponent he has faced.

Elsewhere, Liverpool scraped past Andoni Iraola’s former side Bournemouth after Alexander Isak’s winner, while Manchester United only managed a 1-1 draw against Fulham courtesy of a late Matheus Cunha equaliser.

Chelsea were stunned 3-0 away at Brentford on Friday night while Tottenham Hotspur’s struggles continued with a 3-2 defeat to Aston Villa on Saturday.

Next up, the league takes a pause for a lengthy international break, with Uefa Nations League action on the horizon.

Pictured above: Antoine Semenyo

Source: @mancity