MANCHESTER, England, Sept 20 (Reuters) – Manchester City head into the first international break three points clear at the top of the Premier League after Antoine Semenyo’s double helped secure an enthralling 5-3 home win over Sunderland, for whom Brian Brobbey grabbed a hat-trick, on Sunday.
A pulsating clash at a sunny Etihad Stadium saw Sunderland twice equalise and the result was still in the balance until Erling Haaland got on the scoresheet late on to seal the points and maintain City’s 100% start to the league season.
“Too many goals, I prefer 1-0 much better,” smiling City manager Enzo Maresca said after a seventh successive win in all competitions to cap a dream start to the post-Guardiola era.
Manchester United were minutes away from suffering a third defeat in a week, but Matheus Cunha’s deflected effort in the 89th minute salvaged a 1-1 draw at Fulham.
Liverpool manager Andoni Iraola returned to his old club Bournemouth and celebrated only his second Premier League win since taking charge at Anfield as Alexander Isak’s second-half goal secured a 1-0 win to move them sixth.
Leeds United remain unbeaten but missed the chance to move into third place when they drew 0-0 at home to Crystal Palace.
FIRST CITY GOAL FOR FERNANDEZ
Later on Sunday, Manchester United were trying to shake off a poor start to the campaign at Fulham, who are looking to move off the bottom of the table.
Sunderland began strongly at City but were stunned in the ninth minute when Enzo Fernandez curled a free kick past goalkeeper Robin Roefs for his first goal since his record-equalling £125-million ($167.41-million) move from Chelsea.
The visitors deservedly levelled three minutes later when Brobbey took an Enzo Le Fee pass and placed a shot past Gianluigi Donnarumma but Rayan Cherki restored City’s lead in the 29th minute when the ball fell to him in the box and he poked home.
Brobbey was a constant menace though and he equalised when he converted into an empty net from a Thomas Meunier assist.
City went in ahead after a breathless first half after Semenyo finished emphatically past Roefs.
Semenyo gave City breathing space in the 57th minute with a drilled finish after Sunderland’s defence failed to clear the ball. But Sunderland, and Brobbey, were not finished.
The Dutch forward applied the finishing touch to a shot by Nilson Angulo to become the first Sunderland player to score a Premier League hat-trick since Jermaine Defoe in 2016.
He is also the first player to score a Premier League hat-trick and end up on the losing side since Roque Santa Cruz for Blackburn Rovers against Wigan Athletic 19 years ago.
Only some desperate defending stopped Sunderland levelling for the third time with Ruben Dias close to an embarrassing own goal before a late clearance. But Haaland finally got his goal to make the points safe, meaning he has now scored against all 25 Premier League clubs he has faced in a little over four years in England.
“It was very difficult, but we found a way to win the game. The good thing also is that these seven official games have all been different. We experience different things,” Maresca said.
After a derby defeat against City and a League Cup exit to Brighton & Hove Albion, another defeat at Fulham would have piled pressure on Manchester United manager Michael Carrick.
That looked on the cards as an own goal by Lisandro Martinez gave Fulham the lead just past the hour — punishing a woeful start to the second period for the visitors.
United did improve and pushed for an equaliser but Fulham seemed set for their first league win under new manager Alvaro Arbeloa and their first at home against United since 2009 until Cunha’s speculative shot flicked off substitute Patrick Dorgu and left Bernd Leno wrong-footed.
The draw left United in 12th place with five points while Fulham moved off the foot of the table, leaving Tottenham Hotspur bottom for the first time since 2009.
Liverpool and Bournemouth managed only five attempts on target in a cagey affair at The Vitality Stadium but one of them proved decisive as Isak pounced in the 57th minute for his fourth league goal of the season — more than he managed in the whole of his first season after his move from Newcastle United.
($1 = 0.7467 pounds)
(Reporting by Martyn Herman; editing by Clare Fallon and Christian Radnedge)
