Man City 2-1 Sunderland: Sunderland were left to regret a minute of defensive madness as a quickfire Georgios Samaras brace gave Manchester City a 2-1 win.
Samaras took advantage of a dreadful Danny Collins blunder in the ninth minute to lash the ball over Kelvin Davis into the far corner. And just 60 seconds later, the Greek star made it 2-0 as he volleyed home Trevor Sinclair's cross after the City winger sprang the offside trap.
Kevin Kyle brought Sunderland back into the game when he bundled home from close range (25) after Gary Breen had nodded Julio Arca's free-kick goalwards.
The Black Cats battled bravely after the break but other than a couple of Dean Whitehead efforts, they failed to trouble David James, while at the other end, Samaras almost completed his hat-trick and Davis blocked a Darius Vassell shot.
The Sunderland keeper was lucky not to concede a penalty after a clumsy challenge on Micah Richards before the Black Cats' misery was compounded five minutes from time when Gary Breen saw red after a ludicrous handball - his second bookable offence.
