Five Things Learned: Manchester City 3-0 Sunderland (Premier League) | OneFootball

Manchester City emerged comfortable 3-0 victors over Sunderland on Saturday afternoon, closing the gap on league leaders Arsenal to just two points.

The game began as a particularly cagey affair, with both sides struggling to generate chances of any real substance as City certainly faced difficulty attempting to find the all-important answer to the resolute defence of Regis Le Bris’ side.

However, just as the Blues looked at a loss in terms of finding the cutting edge, Ruben Dias – who prior to this campaign had not scored a league goal for City since 2021 – thundered an ambitious strike from outside the area via a slight deflection to sail past Robin Roefs.

Just four minutes later, the ecstasy for Pep Guardiola’s side continued as a corner from Phil Foden found the head of Josko Gvardiol, who thumped a header into the back of the net and in the blink of an eye, the home side led by two goals into the interval.

The game began to open up in the second period, with the Black Cats growing into the game in a bid to try to fight their way back into the fixture, trying their best to create chances and pressurising their opposition.

Despite this, Manchester City’s quality proved too much to bear, as a duo that glittered all afternoon put the game beyond all reasonable doubt after Rayan Cherki picked out Phil Foden with an outrageously skilful rabona pass, which the latter headed home into the top corner.

Any hope for the travelling support of a possible consolation was extinguished with a rash and dangerous challenge from substitute Luke O’Nien on Matheus Nunes that saw referee Andy Madley dismiss the defender in stoppage time. The red card rubbed salt in the wounds for his side as their great form was brought to an unceremonious end following City’s significant win.

Here are Five Things We Learned from an invaluable home win for Manchester City over Sunderland!

Ridiculous Rayan Cherki!

Manchester City’s No.10 was nothing short of sublime, excelling in all areas and continuously looking to put his side on the front foot, proving a constant creative outlet with skill, vision and dynamism. He may not have got on the scoresheet, but the Frenchman was integral.

The 22-year-old was at the heart of everything positive, providing two assists – with the second being a sensational pass to Phil Foden for the third City goal – whilst also creating the most chances (6) and completing the most successful dribbles (5).

Following a £30 million move from Olympique Lyonnais to the Etihad Stadium in the summer, Cherki has most certainly hit the ground running for Pep Guardiola, now averaging a goal involvement every 59 minutes across competitions for Manchester City.

When asked about Rayan Cherki, Manchester City’s Catalan boss said, “An exceptional player.

“He’s so young and has a HUGE personality – he proved it against Fulham in the toughest moment, coming on at 5-4, and every time he had the ball, he gave extra passes and continuity.

“He’s not scared, has self-confidence, and in the final third he has something special.”

Phil Foden: No sign of slowing down!

Manchester City’s beloved No.47 was crucial to his side’s victory yet again as he picked up another two goal contributions. The first an excellent ball to find the head of Josko Gvardiol and the second a splendid header of his own.

Not only will the statistics praise Foden, but his general play was also top class, showcasing his impressive passing range and knitting everything together for Pep Guardiola alongside talented compatriot Rayan Cherki.

Alongside his goal involvements, the City Football Academy graduate boasted an 89% passing accuracy and created two chances in the process – a shining performance making it six goal contributions in his last three Premier League games, hitting red-hot form at the perfect time.

Foden was heavily scrutinised for the sheer drop in performance levels last campaign. Given the standards he set during the title-winning term of 2023/24, he was poor at times, yes, but the whole team as a collective was suffering.

Now though, it seems that the England international is back to his scintillating best and will no doubt be a major asset to manager Pep Guardiola this season if he continues on this current trajectory.

Turning defence into attack

Two of the sky blues’ back four briefly turned their focus away from the day job of central defence on Saturday afternoon as the imperious Portuguese and Croatian pairing found themselves effective at the other end of the pitch.

Ruben Dias’ long-range effort gave the Blues the lead – a stunning strike that gave fans deja vu of a goal from years gone by courtesy of a certain Vincent Kompany – whilst Josko Gvardiol powered home his second consecutive Etihad Stadium goal.

Not what we’re used to, but as long as they go in, who cares how?

In all seriousness, however bizarre it may seem, goals flowing in from all areas of the pitch is a very welcome and promising sight for those of a blue and white persuasion who were concerned at one stage of becoming overly reliant on the numbers of Erling Haaland.

This issue, though, has largely been laid to rest, as others in the squad have begun to chip in throughout recent weeks. In fact, Haaland has netted just two in his last five league games, whilst City have scored a collective 15.

The burden on the Norwegian’s shoulders has been significantly lightened!

A MASSIVE three points!

Following the late victory of Unai Emery’s Aston Villa over league leaders Arsenal, it was absolutely pivotal that Manchester City capitalised on their competitors’ shortcomings and closed the gap on the Gunners.

This was, coming into the game, by no means a simple feat, as Regis Le Bris’ Black Cats have defied the odds since their promotion and proved themselves more than worthy of remaining in the division, finding themselves in high-flying form following draws against Arsenal and Liverpool in recent weeks.

Despite this, Pep Guardiola’s side delivered a professional performance on home turf, with the Blues’ individual quality standing out as they completed a comfortable 3-0 dismantling of their visitors.

This victory now places City in second place after 15 of 38 league games – two behind familiar adversaries Arsenal and one point clear of an Aston Villa side, who have secured five consecutive league wins.

Consistency is key

Manchester City have wrestled their way back into the title conversation off the back of a relatively intermittent start to the season. Whilst it is undeniable that City have the calibre of players in their ranks to win titles, what seems to be missing at times is the winning-DNA of previous sides of their own and that comes with experience.

If this reinvigorated squad can find a way of consistently getting results to keep pace with rivals, then they have more than a chance of reclaiming their crown, with domestic league football not won by single performances and more by maintaining impeccably high standards across a very long period.

When asked about the Premier League title race, Pep Guardiola told reporters on Saturday, “From my experience – I’m sorry, I don’t want to feel arrogant, but I have quite a bit of experience winning Premier Leagues and titles – it’s the consistency.

“And consistency comes just from one thing: the way you play. Not from a result one day, or a victory to go two points behind or four points in front, it’s the consistency of how you perform and how much you grow during the year.

“And today maybe was one of the best performances of the season during 94 minutes… I have the feeling – even if today they dropped points – Arsenal are going to drop few, few, few, few points.

“If we want to be there, we have to win games, games, and games. And games come from the way you perform, not just from a lucky day or lucky action.”

Arsenal appear to be the Blues’ main competition for the elusive trophy, and they have looked very convincing indeed, so Pep Guardiola and his players will have to conjure up consistent results if they wish to be champions come May. It’ll be difficult, but not impossible!