Premier League: Man City vs Sunderland 06/12/2025

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Manchester City have just come out of two true league roller-coaster matches, from which they still managed to take the full six points. First, they beat Leeds at the Etihad thanks to a stoppage-time goal by Phil Foden, and then on Tuesday at Craven Cottage they were forced to sweat until the very last minute despite at one point having a huge 5–1 lead.

Pep Guardiola certainly has reasons to worry about some of the defensive weaknesses his team is showing, but at the same time he can be very satisfied with the form of his attacking stars. Until recently, Erling Haaland didn’t have proper support in attack, but he has now been joined in spectacular fashion by the talented Phil Foden, who has scored four goals in the last two matches.

Coming to the Etihad is the biggest surprise of the season so far – Sunderland. Very few people dared to predict such an impressive start for a team many expected to fight for survival, yet the Black Cats currently sit in a high sixth place with 23 points. In the midweek Round 13, they took a point at Anfield against Liverpool, and they could easily have taken all three.

This will be a serious test for both teams. Although I have great respect for everything Sunderland have achieved so far, it is hard to expect them to replicate the energy, intensity and organization they showed at Anfield when facing City – especially considering they don’t have much squad depth and have spent a lot of energy. On the other hand, City are far too experienced and too high-quality a team not to know how to exploit such a situation.