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 chapeaux – 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 seemed 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 ultimately disappointing No 9 did not take long to make his presence felt. 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 linesman had detected Silva was fractionally offside. When a lengthy video assistant referee check confirmed that judgment it appeared Silva must have overextended a toe. That represented quite a reprieve for a Sunderland side that were sunk 3-0 at the Etihad Stadium in early December and, creditably, they made the very most of it.
Brian Brobbey has taken time to build his fitness up since arriving from Ajax last summer but the striker showed off eye-catching strength to connect with a long ball and not so much shrug Rúben Dias off but bulldozer through the defender.
Brobbey had missed two excellent chances during last Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Leeds but a fine save from Donnarumma ensured that it was not to be third time lucky for a centre-forward well aware Le Bris intends reinforcing his frontline this month.
If Sunderland’s manager was impressed by Brobbey’s disruptive physicality, Le Bris must also have been quietly encouraged by his entire team’s intelligence, competitiveness and indefatigable pressing. Nordi Mukiele had, unusually, struggled against Dominic Calvert-Lewin during that Leeds visit but the former Paris Saint-Germain defender delighted in frequently subduing Haaland here.
When, thanks to a clever interchange with Matheus Nunes and Phil Foden, the Norwegian finally succeeded in dodging Mukiele and his fellow minders Roefs reacted smartly to save the striker’s shot with his legs. Almost immediately Guardiola’s persistent pacing of the away technical area assumed the sort of manic intensity that was surely more about internal agitation than a riposte to the bitter Wearside chill.
As the temperature plummeted it served as a reminder that a day when public transport in the north-east always shuts down for the new year holiday was hardly ideal for staging an 8pm kick-off. And especially not when visiting City fans faced an icy, three-hour, late night, trans-Pennine drive home.
At least it was considerably more engrossing that your typical 0-0 draw, even if City only managed two shots on target during an opening 45 minutes that concluded with Le Bris’s right-back, Trai Hume, glancing a header narrowly over the bar following Granit Xhaka’s superior delivery.
The tone-raising introduction of the fit again Rodri at the outset of the second half improved City considerably, finally breaking Sunderland’s lines and permitting Foden greater licence to attack. Yet although Savinho directed one highly inviting, Cherki conjured, chance over the crossbar before subsequently prompting Roefs into another stellar save with his legs, the visitors generally found Sunderland’s defence as opaque as Guardiola’s future.
The revelation that the former Chelsea manager, Enzo Maresca, has discussed the possibility of succeeding the Catalan - should he opt to leave Manchester this summer - with figures associated to City added an air of intrigue to proceedings.
More immediately, one thing remained as crystal clear as the near full moon illuminating the Wearside skies: the word surrender is not in Sunderland’s vocabulary. Sure enough, City again had Donnarumma’s excellence to thank for a brilliant save from Eliezer Mayenda after Enzo Le Fée’s sublime pass outwitted Guardiola’s rearguard.
The latter’s discomfort was compounded by the success Xhaka and friends were enjoying in disrupting his team’s customary midfield fluency. Not for the first time, Le Bris’s tactical blueprint was frustrating high-calibre opponents. At times it was hard to imagine Sunderland were missing a quartet of key first-teamers otherwise engaged at the Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco.
Not that City gave up. Jérémy Doku and Josko Gvardiol missed decent chances as they forced their hosts ever deeper, with only a series of increasingly desperate blocks and interceptions preserving one of surely the most precious points Sunderland will collect this season. Small wonder Glad All Over boomed out of the sound system at the final whistle.
