MANCHESTER: Manchester City’s center backs Ruben Dias and Josko Gvardiol struck less than four minutes apart in the first half in a 3-0 thrashing of Sunderland that tightened the Premier League title race and kept the pressure firmly on leaders Arsenal.
Phil Foden also scored — his fifth goal in three games — as second-placed City seized the opportunity of Arsenal’s 2-1 loss at Aston Villa earlier in the day to climb within two points of the leaders with 31 points after 15 games. Sunderland were provisionally seventh on 23 points.
While Pep Guardiola’s men dominated possession, neither side really threatened in the first half before Dias ended the deadlock in the 31st minute with a rocket from 30 yards out that took a slight deflection off Dan Ballard. Less than four minutes later, Foden whipped in a cross that Gvardiol leapt to head home.
Foden netted his own in the 65th minute with a goal that was all about Rayan Cherki’s jaw-dropping Rabona assist, a chip that Foden needed only to head home and then had the England midfielder shaking his head in disbelief at Cherki’s skill.
“I worked for that, I know my quality, my quality is my technique, when I play with Phil, Erling (Haaland), Omar (Marmoush), it’s very important to give the good balls for them,” Cherki told the BBC.
“Phil is a great player, he works for the team, runs for the team.”
Sunderland ended the game with 10 men after Luke O’Nien was shown a red card for a bad foul deep in added time.
City’s victory could have been even more lopsided. Haaland, who on Tuesday became the fastest player in history to score 100 Premier League goals, had a second-half shot cleared off the line after Cherki beat two men in the buildup.
Cherki had a great late-game chance when he beat Sunderland’s back line before cutting back and firing a low left-footed effort that Roefs dove right to push out of danger.
“Today it was a great game,” Cherki told Sky Sports. “We don’t want to concede goals and today we didn’t. Perfect day.
“We take the game one after one. We want to work for wins and games.”
There had been pre-game cheers at Etihad Stadium when Aston Villa’s Emiliano Buendia scored the 95th-minute winner that sank Arsenal.
But a City victory felt far from certain after they had to fight off a ferocious comeback in a 5-4 win at Fulham on Tuesday. Sunderland have been excellent in their return to the top flight, taking points off Arsenal, Chelsea and, most recently, champions Liverpool in a 1-1 draw at Anfield on Wednesday.
“One of the best performances of the season against a team that’s done so much so far with top six,” Guardiola said. “The way you play, the way you perform is what tells you what’s going to happen in the future.
“We didn’t concede much ... and we created three chances.”