Manchester City reaching top gear as title race gets interesting

Sunderland 1 Manchester City 4

It was the sort of night which mocked suggestions that this season's Premier League is a one-horse race and poured scorn on the notion that Manuel Pellegrini might be under some sort of pressure at the Etihad Stadium.

With Sergio Agüero, who scored twice, at his ruthless best and Yaya Touré further deconstructing theories that he might be a fading force, Manchester City were irresistible. At times their football was so mesmerising they threatened to pass Gus Poyet’s team off the pitch but the worrying thing for future opponents is that Sunderland were far from meek opponents and actually played quite well in patches.

Chelsea may hold a six point lead at the top of the table but, on this compelling evidence, José Mourinho has no cause for complacency.

Poyet – still to name the same starting XI in successive games this season – clearly subscribes to the “variety is the spice of life” school of thought. Rather than opting to stick to the formula that won a fine point against Chelsea on Saturday, Sunderland’s manager aimed to confuse City by shaking things up.

Where his team had been content to sit deep against Mourinho’s players, here they attempted to impose themselves, holding a high defensive line as, initially at least, they endeavoured to press Pellegrini’s side into submission.

If this strategy produced mixed results, the switching of Connor Wickham from the left to right flank and the replacement of Adam Johnson with Will Buckley briefly seemed to ruffle the visiting defence. After Pablo Zabaleta had been required to block a shot from his former team-mate Jack Rodwell following a deceiving early Buckley cross, Wickham opened the scoring.

Created courtesy of the sometimes underrated Sebastian Larsson’s sublime reverse pass, the goal was tinged with fortune as Wickham benefited from the ball ricocheting back onto him in the wake of an attempted tackle on Zabaleta’s part. The resultant velocity saw it flick off the striker and arc impressively over Hart in the manner of the cleverest chip.

Revenge was not long in coming. Like Sunderland, Pellegrini’s players were keen to press their opponents high up the pitch and they were beginning to prove considerably better at it.

So much so that Agüero’s equaliser had a certain air of inevitability about it. Or at least it did if you ignored the statistics. With City having surrendered 1-0 on each of their previous four visits to the Stadium of Light, Agüero’s was their first goal here since 2010.

Connecting with Jesús Navas's wonderful cross, Agüero nutmegged his marker before lashing an unstoppable right foot shot beyond Costel Pantilimon – until the summer a team-mate at the Etihad – from just inside the area. It was the 29th Premier League goal in 33 appearances for City from a striker who simply cannot stop scoring but, perhaps anxious to emphasise he can also create, Agüero then cued up Stevan Jovetic for his side's second.

The moment when Jovetic took aim and whipped the ball through Pantilimon’s legs came at the end of a fabulous move featuring around 30 passes. Things reached a conclusion when Yaya Touré teased Sunderland by retaining possession before picking out Agüero with his back to goal and the Argentine lifted a perfectly cushioned flick into Jovetic’s path.

With Touré taking increasing command of central midfield – where he made life awkward for Lee Cattermole – Pellegrini's players deserved their lead but Sunderland might have equalised on the stroke of half-time. Larsson's excellent corner was met by Rodwell's head and, although Fernandinho cleared it off the line, Steven Fletcher's attempt to meet the rebound ended with the Scotland striker collapsing in the area. "Penalty," screamed Sunderland fans but Craig Pawson refused to buy into such theories.

As a December chill that threatened to leave car windscreens in need of de-icing began to bite, Agüero, Touré and friends continued to enjoy themselves. Yet good as City were, the industry of Cattermole and Larsson especially ensured Sunderland continued to have their moments, kept sporadically suggesting that there is a reason why Dedryck Boyata and Martin Demichelis are not Pellegrini's first-choice central defensive combination.

Sure enough, Larsson's 20-yard shot early in the second half forced Joe Hart into his first proper save of the night, but the Swede's not inconsiderable efforts were soon rendered somewhat academic when Zabaleta extended City's lead. Reminding everyone that he is not all about destruction, the right back played a deft one-two with Samir Nasri before confounding Pantilimon with an audacious lob directed into the far corner.

By now Boyata's habit of conceding some unnecessarily clumsy fouls barely mattered. It was virtually irrelevant when Agüero scored his second of the night. Meeting a cross from James Milner, on as a substitute, he ghosted in front of Santiago Vergini before shooting unerringly beyond poor Pantilimon. With his work on Wearside done, Agüero was promptly replaced by Frank Lampard.

(Guardian Service)