Manchester City 5 Sunderland 3: City player ratings from an absurd match at the Etihad.

Manchester City 5 (Enzo Fernandez 9′, Rayan Cherki 29′, Antoine Semenyo 43′, 57′, Erling Haaland 81′)

Sunderland 3 (Brian Brobbey 12′, 33′, 59′)

Here are the City player ratings as Manchester City made it seven consecutive wins in all competitions to begin the 2026-27 season with a 5-3 win over Sunderland. Today’s match was enthralling from kickoff. Sunderland gave everything and put in a brilliant display, but the quality that City possesses in the final third was the difference.

Manchester City enter the international break three points clear at the top of the Premier League table after making it five wins from five matches to begin their Premier League campaign. Enzo Maresca’s side has started well but it is only early days but they have early points on the board which is all that matters for now.

City player ratings.

Gianluigi Donnarumma-4/10: A nervous performance from Donnarumma. He got away with two mistakes in the second half in what was a bad performance from him and the Manchester City defence.

Matheus Nunes-5/10: Not his best performance. Nunes was caught out in several occasions at right-back as his positioning was off and he didn’t really influence the match in possession. 

Ruben Dias-4/10: Dias was manhandled by Brian Brobbey and was well below his best. 

Marc Guehi-6/10: Manchester City’s best defender on the day but he wasn’t as strong as he has been in recent matches.

Josko Gvardiol-6/10: Gvardiol set up Haaland’s sealer but like Nunes the Croatian international was shaky at times at left-back with his positioning. 

Elliot Anderson-6/10: Not his best performance. He had a running battle with Granit Xhaka throughout the match and he couldn’t influence the game as he’d have liked.

Enzo Fernández-7/10: His free kick wss brilliant and he never stopped toiling away for his team.

Iliman Ndiaye-7.5/10: Ndiaye was close to Manchester City’s best player while he was on the pitch. He was a constant threat with his dribbling which was a delight to watch throughout the game. He should have registered an assist but Haaland spurned the chance that Ndiaye provided.

Rayan Cherki-7.5/10: I thought Cherki played well amongst the chaos. He grabbed a goal but he was by far and away the calmest player on the pitch in possession. He did have a few loose touches in dangerous positions which brings down his rating.

Antoine Semenyo-8/10: Semenyo bagged a brace and was lively throughout the game. His touch was heavy, or off, at times but that is part of the Semenyo package. 

Erling Haaland-7/10: Haaland grabbed his goal late on and toiled away throughout the game. He wasn’t superb by any stretch, but his presence was key to Manchester City’s win.

Substitutes.

Jeremy Doku-7/10: Doku was superb off the bench and he added real life to City’s play.

Nico O’Reilly-N/A: Not on long enough to mark.