Something had to give and it was not Sunderland’s unbeaten home Premier League record. Instead Manchester City’s winning streak came to a juddering halt as Pep Guardiola’s side spurned a chance to move within two points of Arsenal at the top of the table.
Hats – or should that be chapeaus – off to Régis Le Bris and his clever and courageous Sunderland team for not merely frustrating City but offering Gianluigi Donnarumma scope to remind everyone precisely why he is a world-class goalkeeper.
As the final whistle blew, Erling Haaland had been contained, City’s run of eight straight wins in all competitions was over and it was all too easy to see why the Stadium of Light DJ has taken to playing the Dave Clark Five’s ‘Glad All Over’ shortly before kick-off.
It was Haaland’s first visit to the Stadium of Light and City’s no 9 did not take long to make his mark. Only six minutes had passed when Haaland flicked on Rayan Cherki’s corner and Bernardo Silva’s outstretched foot did the rest.
Yet as City celebrations were cut short and Sunderland’s goalkeeper, Robin Roefs, no longer looked quite so crestfallen it became apparent that a sharp-eyed linesman had detected that Silva was fractionally offside. When a lengthy video assistant referee confirmed that judgment it seemed that Silva must have overextended a toe.
