FOOTBALL – MANCHESTER City head into the first international break three points clear at the top of the Premier League after Antoine Semenyo’s double sealed an enthralling 5-3 home win over Sunderland, for whom Brian Brobbey grabbed a hat-trick, yesterday.
A pulsating clash at a sunny Etihad Stadium saw Sunderland twice equalise and the result was in the balance until Erling Haaland got on the scoresheet late on to seal the points and maintain City’s 100 per cent start to the league season.
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.
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 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.
Leeds United remain unbeaten but missed the chance to move into the top four when they drew 0-0 at home to Crystal Palace.
Sunderland began strongly at City but were stunned in the ninth minute when Enzo Fernandez curled a brilliant free kick past goalkeeper Robin Roefs for his first goal since his record-equalling £125-million ($167.41m) 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 close-range finish after Sunderland’s defence failed to clear the ball. But Sunderland, and Brobbey, were not finished.
Brobbey 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.
Only some desperate defending stopped Sunderland levelling for the third time but Haaland finally got his goal to put the game beyond the reach of the valiant visitors.
Meanwhile, the Swede striker Isak has netted four times in the league as Liverpool remain unbeaten going into the international break but once again their front players struggled to gel, despite being able to call on the attacking talents of Cody Gakpo, Florian Wirtz and Bradley Barcola.
Isak’s goal came about thanks to a Gakpo raid down the right but he was not the intended target; instead, the ball bobbled to him after Wirtz had been challenged by Bournemouth defender James Hill, and he slotted it home with a controlled finish in the 57th minute.
Other than that, there was little for Liverpool coach Andoni Iraola to celebrate on his return to Bournemouth after leaving them when his contract expired in June.
“It’s very important for us to get goals, Alexander Isak included. It was a good win here, a clean sheet and we go to the international break before bracing ourselves for a very intense period,” Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk said.
Barcola looked lively on the left and Gakpo was a willing foil on the opposite flank but Wirtz – for whom Liverpool paid a reputed £100m ($134.64m) last summer – put in another muted performance as the Reds managed a measly six efforts on goal in the game.
“Let’s all stay calm and keep working and not get ahead of ourselves. This was an important win at a difficult ground. We could have done a lot better but we come away with the three points and a clean sheet,” Van Dijk said.
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