Bernardo Silva looked to have given Man City an early lead via Erling Haaland’s headed assist, though his trailing left foot saw the effort disallowed by the most minuscule of offside margins.
The visitors continued to put serious pressure on the Sunderland back four from there, but thanks to the industry of Trai Hume and Enzo Le Fee, the Black Cats would counter at pace, keeping the likes of Ruben Dias and his defensive colleagues on their toes.
Indeed, City were soon grateful to Gianluigi Donnarumma after Brian Brobbey outmuscled Dias, only to see the giant Italian parry his shot away.
Sunderland’s level of intensity saw them win the majority of one-on-ones as the half progressed, with Hume the next to flash an effort just wide as City remained on the ropes. Phil Foden and Rayan Cherki just couldn’t get into the game, whilst Simon Adingra and Eliezer Mayenda caused consistent problems at the other end.
That said, Haaland would still come the closest of anyone to scoring in a lively first half, which deserved at least one goal for the neutral to savour, but Robin Roefs was equal to his low right-footed shot.
In the second half, the end-to-end pattern only continued, as the game quickly became one of the PL’s most entertaining goalless draws in living memory. Savinho blazed over from close range shortly after half-time, and had a left-footed effort saved by Roefs within a couple of minutes, as City came out much more purposefully.
Sunderland responded in kind, though, with Donnarumma foiling Adingra, and then pulling off a one-handed wonder-save from Mayenda.
Roef’s point-blank reflex save to deny Joško Gvardiol was world-class, with Nordi Mukiele’s face stopping Jeremy Doku’s goal-bound shot as the game became more frenetic and stretched leading into the final stages. Despite there being no let up in the attacking intent from both sides, the lack of goals means that City still haven’t lost their opening league game of a calendar year since 2012, whilst Sunderland have taken their first point in eight PL H2Hs.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Simon Adingra (Sunderland)