Man City win 8-goal thriller against Sunderland

MANCHESTER, England (AP):

No Pep Guardiola. No problem.

Not yet anyway for Manchester City after moving clear at the top of the Premier League yesterday with a 5-3 win over Sunderland.

New coach Enzo Maresca extended his perfect winning start to the season to five games and goes into the international break three points ahead of defending champions Arsenal in second place.

But that doesn’t tell half the story of a chaotic match at the Etihad Stadium that saw City twice squander the lead and Sunderland striker Brian Brobbey outshine Erling Haaland with a hat trick.

Eventually it was Haaland who ended the visitors’ brave fight with City’s fifth goal in the 81st minute.

Manchester United left it even later to salvage a 1-1 draw at Fulham and avoid three straight defeats in all competitions. Matheus Cunha’s heavily deflected shot in the 89th earned Michael Carrick’s team a point at Craven Cottage.

Alexander Isak scored his fourth goal of the season as Liverpool beat Bournemouth 1-0, and Leeds drew 0-0 with Crystal Palace.

PERFECT ENZO

Maresca’s 100 per cent record continues after taking on arguably the most daunting task in football when stepping into Guardiola’s shoes over the summer. Charged with the responsibility of continuing City’s unprecedented era of success, which included six league titles and the Champions League among 17 major trophies, he has made the best possible start in terms of results.

But City will likely have to tighten up defensively if they are to end a two-year title drought.

“I would prefer to win 1-0 than 5-3,” Maresca said. “I’m always trying to see what we can do better. Two of the three goals that we concede, they have been too easy.”

Sunderland repeatedly cut City open, scoring three goals and creating numerous chances to add more.

City twice squandered leads in the first half before going in at the break 3-2 up.

Enzo Fernandez opened the scoring in the ninth minute with a free kick that curled into the near post, but Brobbey got in behind City’s defence to quickly level.

Rayan Cherki restored the home team’s advantage with a low effort from inside the area before Brobbey equalised for a second time as Sunderland again took advantage of slack City defending.

Antoine Semenyo drilled a low shot past Sunderland goalkeeper Robin Roefs shortly before halftime and lashed home his second in the 57th to give City breathing room.

Brobbey completed his hat trick by forcing the ball over the line from close range and Ruben Dias had to clear off the line to avoid the game being levelled again with an own-goal.

Haaland’s seventh goal in his last five games avoided a tense finish and ensured that City sit clear at the top after Arsenal’s surprise loss to Brighton on Saturday.

“It is much better to win games. It is better to have three points more than not, but it is quite early (in the season),” Maresca said.

Man United relief

After back-to-back losses, United really needed a win to ease the pressure going into the international break.

By full-time at Craven Cottage there was relief all around just to pick up a draw against winless Fulham.

“We came to get the win, but the way it has panned out and the way we finished the game are the positives we take from it,” United coach Carrick said. “We know we can be better and we need to be better about certain things. That is pretty clear and we will be.”

Lisandro Martinez’s own-goal shortly after the hour looked like piling more misery on Carrick after defeats to Man City and Brighton over the past week.

United twice hit the post in the first half but rarely looked like finding an equaliser until Cunha’s long-range shot deflected off David Affengruber and wrong-footed Fulham ‘keeper Bernd Leno.