Maresca Says Title Talk Premature After Man City Go Top

Enzo Maresca played down Manchester City’s early advantage in the title race following Sunday’s 5-3 triumph over Sunderland, insisting that the campaign is still in its opening stages.

The action-packed win at the Etihad Stadium took City to 15 points from their first five league fixtures. They now sit three points above Arsenal, who were beaten at Brighton on Saturday. Maresca was asked about leading the table before the three-week international break.

“Winning matches is always preferable,” he said. “Of course, having three extra points at this stage is positive. However, the season has only just begun. The international break gives us an opportunity to assess our performances, identify areas for improvement and also take some time to recover.”

Reflecting on the Sunderland match, Maresca said: “I would rather secure a 1-0 victory than win 5-3, but I anticipated a very challenging contest. I knew how effective and aggressive they could be without possession. It was a tough match, so I am pleased that we managed to find a way to win.

“We scored five goals and probably had opportunities to add more, which shows that we created plenty of chances. At the same time, we cannot allow opponents to score the kind of goals we conceded today. We had recorded four consecutive clean sheets before letting in three in this game.”

City went ahead twice during the opening half through Enzo Fernández and Rayan Cherki, but Brian Brobbey responded with an equaliser on both occasions. Antoine Semenyo then struck in the 43rd minute to send the hosts into the interval with a 3-2 advantage.

Semenyo scored his second after the restart to extend the lead to 4-2, before Brobbey completed his hat-trick in the 59th minute to reduce the deficit. Erling Haaland added a late goal to settle the result. Brobbey became the first player since Roque Santa Cruz in December 2007 to score three goals and still finish on the losing side in a Premier League match.

With City leading 3-2, Elliot Anderson appeared to handle the ball inside his own penalty area, but no punishment was given. City then moved forward and created the attack that resulted in Semenyo’s second goal.

Sunderland manager Régis Le Bris said: “It was difficult to view that incident as anything other than handball. The decision was made, though, and we must accept it. There is not much more to say. We lost, but we can still be proud of the squad’s performance. The margins are extremely small when facing one of Europe’s strongest teams. Even a partial opportunity can be punished, and that is probably the main lesson from today.”