Wednesday 16th September 2026
Manchester City v Sunderland – Premier League
Etihad Stadium – Kick-Off: 14:00
Match Coverage
TV/Stream: Full live match coverage is available via Sky Sports.
Radio: Full live match commentary available via BBC Radio Newcastle (not online)
Don’t forget to follow the blow-by-blow account of the game on the Roker Report Twitter feed (@RokerReport) and check out the player ratings after the full-time whistle at www.RokerReport.sbnation.com!
The build-up…
It’s been some week or so already, but we end our tough quick-fire trilogy at a stadium we’ve never won in before. We’ll save that for later, however, because
this week has shown how far we’ve come and where we are now as a club.
On another day, we’d have gone on to beat the current Premier League champions last weekend at the Stadium of Light, and they travelled back to the capital knowing full well they’d been taken all the way. Then, on an emotional and pretty epic midweek night, we won our first Europa League game at the Stadium of Light.
I predicted a win, and I said that the atmosphere would get us over the line – and of course it helped – but the Lads put in a performance to be proud of against a very technical AZ Alkmaar side. In my book, they were technically better than a lot of Premier League sides, and their movement caused us issues where we had to think on our feet.
A lot of focus has been on the attacking aspect from Wednesday night, but defensively we had to be on our toes at times. It’s another test that Regis Le Bris likes to talk about so much during the weekly press conferences, where his players can learn a lesson and continue that development journey that he speaks of.
His line-up will be interesting considering he made more changes than most thought he would on Wednesday. Will we see Meunier come back into the side? Will Fofana keep that place on the left? And will Regis Le Bris go five at the back for our first test against one of the big boys away from home?
I suspect he might have a plan similar to what we saw at Chelsea last season, although our performance at the Etihad last season was very good until we went behind. We do, however, have a three-week international break after this, so it would be nice to spend that time thinking about a decent result.
As we know, that isn’t going to be easy. In twelve attempts, we have still not claimed a victory at the Etihad. We have to go back to 1998 at Maine Road to find when we last beat them at their place – no prizes for guessing Kevin Phillips scored the winner that day, by the way.
From our twelve attempts, we’ve drawn just two – I did mention this wasn’t going to be easy? The last time we took a point was back in April 2014, and the other was a 3-3 draw back in March 2012 where we were leading 3-1 with five minutes to go.
For so long though, we’ve looked at City as Pep Guardiola’s City, and they now find themselves adjusting to what their next era might look like. If you’ve had a chance to listen to the opposition preview from yesterday on Haway The Podcast, you’ll have heard Simon Bajkowski from the Manchester Evening News talk about how Guardiola was part of the process to find his successor, which ended with Enzo Maresca.
He left the Chelsea job to follow in Guardiola’s footsteps and signed a three-year contract, but more importantly, was the beneficiary of a rebuild project that cost somewhere in the region of £450m. Around half of that total went on Elliott Anderson and Enzo Fernandez alone.
Then the Community Shield came along, and Arsenal wiped the floor with them – resulting in many pundits writing them off after one game – but they’ve kicked off the real thing with four wins from four in the Premier League and a win in Porto to open their Champions League campaign.
But if we want a little bit of hope for today, they have had two games so far at the Etihad, and in those games they could have very easily dropped points. Bournemouth took the lead on the opening day, and two goals in the last five minutes gave City all three points, and last time out in the Premier League, Coventry took them all the way and were close to taking a point from the game.
The betting…
Unsurprisingly, the bookies have the Lads at a long 8/1 to win the game, while City are 3/10 for the victory, and the draw is 4/1.
Head-to-head… in Manchester
(All competitive competitions)
- Sunderland wins: 12
- Draws: 14
- Manchester City wins: 49
- Sunderland goals: 90
- Manchester City goals: 155
Last time we met… at the Etihad Stadium
Saturday 6th December 2025
Premier League
Manchester City 3-0 Sunderland
[Dias 31’, Gvardiol 35’, Foden 65’ – (O’Nien sent-off 90’)]
Sunderland: Roefs, Mukiele, Geertruida, Ballard, Alderete, Hume (O’Nien), Xhaka (Mundle), Sadiki (Adingra), Traore (Talbi), Le Fee, Isidor (Brobbey) Substitutes not used: Patterson, Neil, Rigg
Manchester City: Donnaruma, Nunes, O’Reilly, Gonzalez, Dias, Gvardiol (Ake), Silva (Lewis), Cherki (Savinho), Haaland (Marmoush), Foden (Reijnders), Doku Substitutes not used: Trafford, Khusanov, Ait-Nouri, Bobb
Attendance: 52,436
Prediction…
Manchester City 2-0 Sunderland
We’ve put a shift in this week, and I just reckon this one is a big ask. After their first two Premier League games at home, they’re looking to really turn it on. I’m hoping we put in a performance similar to how we started the game at the Etihad last season, and we make it difficult for them. Other than that, I just think they’ll have too much for us.
