Manchester City vs Sunderland: Haaland Aims to Score Against All Premier League Teams
Manchester City’s new era under Enzo Maresca is starting to look ominously familiar. New man in the dugout, same ruthless machine on the pitch. Five straight wins in all competitions since the Community Shield defeat to Arsenal, three consecutive clean sheets, and a derby victory – controversial or not – have quickly quietened the post-Pep nerves around the Etihad.
Now comes Sunderland. Brave, energetic, European. But walking into a storm.
City rolling, Sunderland walking into the fire
City’s start has been as efficient as it has been impressive. They’ve won every competitive game since that curtain-raiser loss to Arsenal, including a controlled 2-0 victory away at FC Porto in the Champions League and that fiery Manchester derby success.
The Etihad remains a fortress. Just two league defeats in 19 home matches last season underline how unforgiving this place is for visitors. Sunderland know it. They drew 0-0 here last season, but that result felt more like an outlier than a template.
Regis Le Bris brings a side still adjusting to the demands of competing on multiple fronts. Sunderland tasted Europa League football for the first time on Wednesday and handled the occasion well, beating AZ Alkmaar 1-0. It was a proud night for the Black Cats, but the league has told a harsher story against the elite.
Arsenal went to the Stadium of Light last weekend and left with a 2-0 win, a far more comfortable outing than last season’s 2-2 draw in the same fixture. Sunderland’s away record offers little comfort either: eight defeats in 19 league trips last term, just five wins, and no victory on the road yet this season after a draw and a loss.
At the Etihad, against a City side in this kind of rhythm, the margins narrow quickly.
An improved back line, a clear betting angle
For all the talk about Maresca’s tweaks in possession, it’s City’s defensive solidity that jumps off the page. Three clean sheets in a row across all competitions, a back four that looks settled, and a structure that rarely allows chaos.
The expected lineup – Donnarumma behind Nunes, Guehi, Dias and Gvardiol, with Anderson, Fernandez and Allan in midfield, and Cherki, Semenyo and Haaland up front – suggests control and power in every line.
Sunderland, by contrast, arrive with a mixed attacking profile. Four of their last five matches have seen only one team score. That pattern, combined with City’s recent defensive streak and the history between the sides, is hard to ignore. None of the last three meetings have seen both teams find the net.
With Roefs in goal and a likely back line of Mukiele, Danso, Ballard and Alderete, shielded by Xhaka and Sadiki, Sunderland will try to dig in. Meunier, Le Fee and Angulo will look to spring Brian Brobbey on the counter. It’s a clear plan. But it will be a long afternoon if City score first.
The expectation is simple: City to win, and to keep Sunderland out.
Score prediction: Manchester City 3-0 Sunderland
Goalscorers prediction: Erling Haaland x2, Rayan Cherki
Cherki vs the low block
If Sunderland’s approach against Arsenal is any guide, Le Bris will arrive at the Etihad with a low block and a counter-punch. That plan almost worked last weekend. Brobbey’s presence up front gave Arsenal problems, and Sunderland made life awkward until Bruno Guimaraes produced a moment of brilliance to finally crack them.
City have a different kind of lock-picker.
Rayan Cherki has started this season as the creative spark in Maresca’s system. Two goals and two assists in his first four Premier League games tell part of the story. The rest is in the way he plays: low centre of gravity, quick feet, and the confidence to glide past defenders in tight spaces.
He’s already City’s top assist provider in the league and comes into this one with a point to prove after a frustrating Manchester derby, where he only featured for 45 minutes and never truly imposed himself. That tends not to last long with players of his profile.
Twelve league assists last season set the standard. Double figures again feels inevitable if he stays fit and central to Maresca’s plans. Against a deep Sunderland block, he becomes the obvious fulcrum – the man most likely to slide the pass that breaks the line and turns pressure into goals.
Haaland’s unfinished business
Erling Haaland does not leave boxes unticked for long.
Since arriving in England, he has faced 25 different Premier League opponents. He has scored against 24 of them. Sunderland are the only club to have kept him off the scoresheet.
That statistic will not be lost on him when he walks out at the Etihad.
Haaland was City’s standout performer in the derby, posting an xG of 0.87 and constantly threatening United’s back line. More importantly, his recent numbers are brutal: six goals in his last four games in all competitions, and four goals in four league matches to lead the early Golden Boot race.
There’s another detail that matters for punters: every one of his goals in those last four games has been the opener. He doesn’t just score; he sets the tone.
With City expected to dominate territory and chances, and with Haaland carrying that personal sub-plot of completing the set against every Premier League side he’s faced, the narrative writes itself.
If he finally breaks Sunderland’s resistance and adds them to his list, it won’t just be another goal. It will be another small marker in a career built on erasing the word “only” from his records.
