Brian Brobbey quickly cancels out Manchester City's opener against Sunderland
In matchday five of the Premier League, Manchester City and Sunderland traded quick goals at the Etihad Stadium — Enzo Fernández put City ahead before Brian Brobbey levelled almost immediately for the visitors.
Background
On Sunday, 20 September, kick-off at 20:00 at the Etihad Stadium, Manchester City host Sunderland in matchday five of the 2026/27 Premier League season. City arrived with a perfect record — 12 points from four games and only two goals conceded, according to Vietnam.vn. The team had beaten Bournemouth 2-1, Crystal Palace 4-1, Coventry 1-0 and, in the Manchester derby, Manchester United 1-0, finishing that match with ten men after Phil Foden's red card. Midweek, City thrashed Norwich City 5-0 in the League Cup while rotating much of the squad. Arsenal, meanwhile, lost 0-3 to Brighton on 19 September and remain on 12 points after five rounds — a win for City would put them alone at the top with 15 points.
Sunderland hold 4 points in the league after a 0-2 defeat to Arsenal in the previous round, in which they created good chances and missed a penalty. Midweek in the Europa League, Sunderland beat AZ Alkmaar 1-0 — as Vietnam.vn notes, their first European cup match in more than half a century. The two sides' previous meeting ended in a 0-0 draw.
Line-ups
City are without the suspended Phil Foden, while Jeremy Doku's return from a calf injury remains uncertain; manager Enzo Maresca has alternatives in Rayan Cherki, Iliman Ndiaye, Antoine Semenyo, Enzo Fernández and Elliot Anderson. For Sunderland, manager Régis Le Bris started Thomas Meunier, as reported by Headliner.nl citing Sporza.be. Key men for the visitors include experienced midfielder Granit Xhaka, in-form Enzo Le Fée — scorer of the winner against AZ Alkmaar — and forward Brian Brobbey, whose physical presence could trouble Ruben Dias and Marc Guéhi.
Fast start
According to Sporza.be's live coverage (via Headliner.nl), the match began quickly: Enzo Fernández opened the scoring with his first goal for City, only for Brian Brobbey to level almost immediately for Sunderland.
