Man City vs. Sunderland: Half-Time Update

The last Premier League fixture of the weekend has reached half-time, where Manchester City find themselves 2-0 up against a dumbstruck Sunderland side.

The Citizens are still hoping to finish somewhere in the top three this season and a win today could see them jump above Chelsea into third in the table. The Black Cats on the other hand have seen form and valuable points drop away this year after a promising start to the season, and they currently sit in 10th.

A change of tactics by Blues boss Roberto Mancini has seen his side line up in an attacking 4-4-2 formation, with lots of attention focused on Sunderland’s full-backs. The team from the North-East have gone over six hours of football now without finding the net, and have both Danny Welbeck and Asamoah Gyan playing up front.

After an even start, the deadlock was broken after eight minutes by a fantastic piece of passing play between Yaya Toure and Adam Johnson. The latter finished left-footed beyond goalkeeper Mignolet against his home town club.

Things were to go from bad to worse for Sunderland who gave away a careless penalty five minutes later; Bardsley went in strong on Tevez without winning the ball. The Argentinean slotted the penalty beyond the outstretched fingertips of Mignolet to double the lead.

Sunderland had a chance after half an hour, which could have seen them back in the game, but a miss-kick from Welbeck six yards out summed up their game so far.

Gyan had a closer effort a few moments later – a dipping effort just whilsting past Joe Hart’s left hand post.

In City’s attacking line-up, Balotelli partners Tevez, who are both supported by David Silva and the returning Johnson. Gareth Barry and James Milner only find themselves on the bench, as does Edin Dzeko, who is still yet to find his feet for his new club.

Steve Bruce made a couple of changes from the team that were defeated by Liverpool a fortnight ago; Michael Turner and Lee Cattermole are in, as Titus Bramble and Kieran Richardson are injured and unavailable.

Manchester City: Hart, Kompany, Kolarov, Lescott, Boyata, Johnson, Silva, De Jong, Yaya Toure, Tevez, Balotelli

Substitutes: Taylor, McGivern, Milner, Wright-Phillips, Barry, Vieira, Dzeko

Sunderland: Mignolet, Bardsley, Turner, Mensah, Ferdinand, Cattermole, Henderson, Muntari, Sessegnon, Welbeck, Gyan

Substitutes: Gordon, Adams, Zenden, Malbranque, Colback, Elmohamady, Lynch