Manchester City earned their third win in a week with a comfortable 3-0 victory over Sunderland at the Etihad Stadium. They have now won 12 of their last 13 Premier League home matches, including seven in a row.
With Arsenal losing earlier in the day, City knew a win would move them to within two points of the league leaders. As expected, Guardiola’s side dominated from the start, but Sunderland defended well and made it difficult for City to create clear chances. Rayan Cherki came close to setting up Erling Haaland with a dangerous ball across goal, but unusually, Haaland couldn’t get the final touch.
City kept pushing and finally broke through just after the half-hour mark, scoring twice in four minutes. Rúben Dias opened the scoring with a stunning long-range strike into the top corner. Moments later, Joško Gvardiol made it 2-0 with a powerful header from Phil Foden’s corner. Those goals increased City’s total of first-half goals this season to a league-leading 18.
Sunderland improved after half-time and had two good chances to pull one back. First, Wilson Isidor robbed Dias of the ball, but Donnarumma rushed out quickly to deny him. Then, Granit Xhaka hit the post as the visitors pushed for a goal.
However, City killed the game off in the 65th minute. Cherki produced a brilliant rabona cross for Foden, who headed in City’s third. Cherki almost scored himself shortly after, but Sunderland goalkeeper Robin Roefs kept it out.
City controlled the rest of the match with ease and looked back to their dominant best. They will still need consistency if they want to keep up the pressure on Arsenal in the title race. Sunderland, meanwhile, drop to seventh and will now turn their attention to next week’s big Tyne-Wear derby against Newcastle.
