So, wouldn’t you know it, City are joint top of the league thanks to Frank Lampard’s winner, when he should have been up the Empire State Building, in training for New York City.
Now he is the fourth-highest goalscorer in the history of the Premier League, one ahead of Thierry Henry. That was a very important goal, after City had let their lead slip, and after City’s draw with Burnley. After a pedestrian first half, that became a lot of fun.
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Final whistle: Man City 3-2 Sunderland
90+3 mins: City looking for a fourth goal.
90 mins: Five minutes of injury time to play, Kolarov pulls it back for Milner, who shoots over.
89 mins: David Silva clears his nostrils in front of 50,000 people or so, and leaves the pitch. Good game. Milner on.
87 mins: City chucked away a 2-0 lead against Burnley in their previous game. They did it here too. Can they hold on to the lead this time?
85 mins: Kolarov on, Nasri off. This has been a truly bonkers second half. Pantilimon, who is 7ft, saves from Fernandinho.
84 mins: Sebastian CO-A-TES. Ralph Coates. Spot the difference.
82 mins: Navas finally gets in behind the defence, and he delays his shot and Pantilimon, who is 6ft 11, blocks him.
80 mins: Phew, we can all calm down a bit. Five minutes without a goal...then Lampard has a shot saved.
78 mins: Seb Coates has come on for Vergini in defence. Yaya Toure just took on the whole Sunderland defence, skipped past them, but he got too close to Pantilimon, who is 6ft 10.
76 mins: They shouldn’t be in this game still, but Sunderland could get something. Ricky Alvarez has made a difference. His dribbling led to the penalty.
74 mins: Sunderland were level for 95 seconds, apparently. Cross was drifted in from the left by Clichy, it evaded Wes Brown, and Lampard just took a small step to get the right position and headed it low inside Pantilimon’s right-hand post. This is unsane.
Goal! Manchester City 3-2 Sunderland (Lampard 73)
Header by Frank Lampard, obviously.
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Goal! Manchester City 2-2 Sunderland (Johnson pen 71)
Perfect penalty by Adam Johnson, to Caballero’s left.
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PENALTY!!
71 mins: Jones brought down by Zabaleta
70 mins: Jovetic off and that controversial man Frank Lampard is on. He should be in New York, you know...
69 mins: Navas hits the post!
Goal! Manchester City 2-1 Sunderland (Rodwell 68)
68 mins GOAL FOR RODWELL
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Goal! Manchester City 2-0 Sunderland (Jovetic 67)
MAN CITY 2-0 SUNDERLAND
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64 mins: Sunderland sub: Ricky Alvarez on, Will Buckley off.
61 mins: There was so much pent-up frustration in that shot from Toure and he timed it beautifully. Pantilimon is 6ft 9in but could not get close to it.
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60 mins: This is going to be interesting, seeing Sunderland trying to get back in this. That was the first goal they have conceded away from home in almost 420 minutes, but now they need to score.
58 mins: It was just the usual pass, pass and more passing by City and then a short pass to Yaya Toure, just outside the box, and he unleashed a shot, he pummelled it home. It was still rising as it went in. Pantilimon had no chance. 1-0 to City.
Goal! Manchester City 1-0 Sunderland (Touré 57)
GOAL FOR MAN CITY
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54 mins: Gus Poyet bemoaned these games being so close together but I don’t know if his approach would have been any different with a week between fixtures.
51 mins: Adam Johnson tucking in at left-back when need be, very disciplined back five if need be.
50 mins: Sunderland have defended brilliantly.
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48 mins: It’s raining again. This is a carbon copy of the start of the first half. All City.
Second half starts: JA Hopkin writes in saying it’s time for Frank. I just watched that film. Fassbender is magnificent.
Here is our man Jamie Jackson’s view
Average fare at Etihad...
— jamie jackson (@JamieJackson___) January 1, 2015
Peep! The half-time whistle goes. That was not the stuff of New Year’s Day dreams, unless you are a Sunderland fan, I guess. City dominated but only created a couple of good chances. Sunderland had a free-kick. I bet you can’t wait for the second half.
45mins: Corner and Jovetic heads...wide. You knew that. I knew that. The rain has stopped. This is not a good game.
42mins: Sunderland have ventured over the halfway line in the last two minutes and that has upset Clichy into hitting a clearance at his own player but it rebounds safely, just, to Caballero.
40mins: Save! Larsson free-kick kept out by Caballero!
38mins: Cynical trip by Jovetic - he has to do something, I suppose - but he doesn’t get a yellow.
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37mins: Toure has a go, with a sidefoot from 20 yards. That’s never going to do it, Yaya.
35mins: This is attack v defence. Defence is winning.
33mins: The corner comes to nought, however.
33mins: Brown slices a cross over his bar and Larsson is booked.
31mins: Shot! Silva on his left foot from 20 yards, but easy enough for Pantilimon to fist away
30mins: If Sunderland push up the pitch, Navas will burn them down the flank, so they’re just sitting back, nice and deep.
27mins: Nasri runs out of patience and his shot goes high over the Sunderland bus defence
25mins: Four and a quarter games gone for Sunderland without conceding a goal. I can see why.
23mins: Pablo Zabaleta’s cut forehead has reopened, despite his bandage, and he’s gone off. He’ll probably put in his own stitches.
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22mins: Goals, goals everywhere, but nothing at the Etihad.
21mins: Silva has a go from 12 yards, just wide, after a bit of penalty box pinball
20mins: Yup, it’s official. It’s a rubbish game. TV are plugging the FA Cup FINAL!!!
17mins: The BT Sport guys are saying it’s like a training ground runabout, such is the lack of intensity. City’s pace has slipped since those opening five minutes.
16mins: Yellow card for Billy Jones for holding back Navas
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12mins: Toure got whacked by Rodwell and is walking gingerly.
11mins: Navas cross low from the right, into the six-yard box, but easy one for Pantilimon.
9mins: Sunderland have got five men in midfield in front of the back four. Connor Wickham is going to have a, um, difficult afternoon.
8mins: Toure has a pop from 30 yards but it goes way over the bar. Mind you, Pantilimon, could probably have grabbed it if he was bothered. That man is tall.
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6mins: Everything is going through Silva, and Sunderland will really have to be on their guard.
4mins: City are looking sharp and Sunderland are finding it hard to get out of their half.
2mins: All City possession and then Jovetic shoots wide
Peep! Game has started
Yup, as I thought. Pellegrini has got his full-length raincoat on.
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The teams are coming out of the tunnel.
I’m told that this is City’s only festive fixture live on TV, unlike Chelsea/Man U. Thank you, JA Hopkin.
Manuel Pellegrini is wearing a very sleek-looking City hoodie in the interview room. I imagine him wearing that at home on Christmas Day. I don’t think it will last the rain today, however.
Poyet has just said on TV that Jack Rodwell will have to play a perfect game, because they haven’t got Cattermole. No pressure, Jack.
It does grate, doesn’t it, a bit like when ITV used to show Manchester United Champions League games with nothing riding on them.
Some thoughts on BT Sport’s possible over-exposure of Manchester City from Dan Lane, a very nice reader. He asks: “Does anyone know when BT Sport are going to make it official and change their name to Man City TV? I’ve no stats in front of me but it feels like City are on BT Sport a lot. Does it feel like that to anyone else?”
But he’s not playing for Gus Poyet today - he’s a pundit for BT Sport.
Julio Arca, Sunderland legend, is on the pitch
Pantilimon also plays against his former club. But non want-away Lampard is on the bench for City. Your thoughts on Frank reneging on his promise to join New York...
Joe Hart is on the bench, should Willy Caballero have to come off.
For Sunderland, Jack Rodwell gets to play his former team, but Lee Cattermole is out injured.
Other team news: Fernando is suspended for one game for City and Toure was a slight doubt but is obviously fit enough. Jovetic is back, relieving James Milner of his forward duties for now.
We should get some clarification on why Joe Hart isn’t playing before too long, but Manuel Pellegrini may just be trying to rest his goalkeeper.
No Joe Hart for City
The teams!
Sunderland: Pantilimon, Vergini, Jones, Brown, O’Shea, Rodwell, Larsson, Gomez, Johnson, Buckley, Wickham.
The teams!
Man City team: Caballero, Zabaleta, Mangala, Demichelis, Clichy, Fernandinho, Silva, Navas, Nasri, Toure, Jovetic
Stat Sunderland have drawn 11 of their 19 league games this season, and six in their last nine.
One more thing Sunderland’s defence away from home has been very impressive since they were gubbed 8-0 at Southampton in October. Five away games since then, and they’ve kept four (consecutive) clean sheets, and they only conceded one goal in the other game, a 3-1 win at Crystal Palace. The highlight of their away form was their 1-0 win at Newcastle. Could they top that today...?
Preamble
Manchester City: the year so far They have managed to hold on to Frank Lampard until the end of the season, which is probably a good thing. But, just a reminder he is not the goal machine of old, he only scored twice from October to December, although one of those was the winner at Leicester.
Sunderland: the year so far Er, they haven’t sold Jozy Altidore...yet.
This can be a sticky fixture for City. They have managed two draws and a win at the Etihad in the previous three seasons. Last season it was a thrilla: 2-2, Samir Nasri rescued a point two minutes from time, and the title pendulum appeared to have swung back in Liverpool’s favour....
