Premier League make Luke O’Nien announcement after Sunderland loss vs Man City
Luke O’Nien was sent off late on to cap a disappointing afternoon for Sunderland as they fell to defeat at Manchester City.
Sunderland were never given much hope of beating Man City, even if they did head into the game just five points behind their opponents.
And so it proved, as Ruben Dias, Josko Gvardiol and Phil Foden all scored to earn Man City a 3-0 win over Sunderland at the Etihad Stadium.
O’Nien was brought on with two minutes left in Manchester but was sent off for a nasty challenge on Matheus Nunes.
While it mattered little in the context of this game, O’Nien will now miss next weekend’s massive showdown with Newcastle United.
VAR intervenes as Luke O’Nien sees red at Etihad Stadium
Man City played some superb football at times and there was no harm in losing to the better side on the day.
However, this was certainly a dent to the momentum Sunderland had been building ahead of the visit of Newcastle United to the Stadium of Light next week.
O’Nien will play no part in that game as a result of his sending off, but he was initially shown a yellow card by referee Andy Madley.
VAR intervened and asked the official to look at the pitchside monitor, and it was then decided a red card was worthy.
Just after the full-time whistle went at the Etihad, the Premier League put out an announcement confirming exactly that.
“After VAR review, the referee overturned the original decision of yellow card to O’Nien and issued a red card for serious foul play,” the announcement read.
O’Nien’s red card was for endangering the safety of his opponent, and there could ultimately be few complaints.
Man City’s incredible record vs promoted sides continues
Paul Merson was certain Sunderland would score against the Citizens, but the travelling supporters had next to nothing to cheer.
That was to be expected in many ways, as Man City have now won 25 of their past 27 Premier League games against newly-promoted opposition.
| Position | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | GD | Points |
| 7 | 16 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 23 |
This was Sunderland’s heaviest loss of the campaign, and their heaviest loss in the division since losing 5-1 at Chelsea on the final day in the 2016-17 season.
This will go down as a bad day at the office for Sunderland, but Regis Le Bris’ men have a week to get this out of their system before the game that really matters.
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