Maresca admits Manchester City would have preferred Sunderland win ‘1-0’

Enzo Maresca conceded he would have preferred Manchester City’s 5-3 victory over Sunderland to have been far less eventful, despite the result preserving their perfect Premier League start.

City made it five consecutive league wins on Sunday to move three points clear at the top of the table, but their defensive performance was overshadowed by Sunderland’s sustained threat.

Antoine Semenyo scored twice, with Enzo Fernandez, Rayan Cherki and Erling Haaland also finding the net. Sunderland responded through Brian Brobbey, whose hat-trick ensured City had to work until the final stages to secure all three points.

“To be honest, I prefer to win 1-0 than 5-3, but I expected a very difficult game,” Maresca said.

“I knew how good they are, off the ball very aggressive and on the ball they have different weapons: set-pieces, and Brobbey.”

The victory extended City’s winning sequence to seven matches in all competitions since their defeat by Arsenal in the Community Shield.

Maresca believes the range of challenges his team have faced during that run will prove useful as the season develops. City have had to manage different match situations, including playing with 10 men against Manchester United and recovering from a losing position against Bournemouth.

“The good thing also is that these seven official games we played are all different,” he said.

“We experienced different things, the last one with 10 men against Manchester United, today was a complicated one, the Bournemouth one we were losing 1-0, so also a chance to learn.”

Brobbey’s three goals were his first of the season. He became the first player since 2007 to score a Premier League hat-trick while ending the match on the losing side.

Sunderland manager Regis Le Bris was pleased that the striker had ended his wait for goals.

“I’m really pleased for him because it’s never easy to have a long period without scoring. Now it’s done,” Le Bris said.

Le Bris also believed Sunderland had created enough opportunities to score more than three times as they repeatedly tested City’s defence.

“It’s a defeat, but we are proud of the level of the squad,” he said. “We created many chances. Probably deserved to score two or three more goals, so it was really tight.

“At that level, against one of the best teams in Europe, a half chance gets punished, and it’s probably the lesson of the day.”

City face another significant challenge when they travel to Anfield to play Liverpool on Sunday, October 11.