luckadjusted
Premier League Matchday 5 · 2026-27

Matchday 5 · Premier League 2026-27 · September 20, 2026

Goals only: this source has no shots, so the replay comes from each side's goals over the season.

Man City 5–3 Sunderland: lucky or expected?

Man City beat Sunderland 5–3, and the goals back it up: from both teams’ goals this season, Man City win 7 of 10, 2 end level. Rated on this season’s goals, Man City were expected to score 2.6 here and Sunderland 1.0.

Full time

Goals
Manchester City 5
Sunderland 3

September 20, 2026

Our prediction before kickoff: Man City win 76%

Luck index +21 Man City about even · −21 Sunderland

Our source has this match’s goals but not its shots, so it is replayed from what each side’s goals over the season say: both teams rated on every goal scored and conceded, and the match played again 4,000 times from those ratings. How often does this result come out? How the goals-only replay works

Ten replays. Man City win 7, 2 end level, Sunderland win 1.

  1. 1 MCI 2 SUN 1
  2. 2 MCI 1 SUN 0
  3. 3 MCI 3 SUN 1
  4. 4 MCI 3 SUN 1
  5. 5 MCI 3 SUN 0
  6. 6 MCI 5 SUN 1
  7. 7 MCI 5 SUN 0
  8. 8 MCI 1 SUN 1
  9. 9 MCI 1 SUN 1
  10. 10 MCI 1 SUN 2

Our prediction before kickoff

We had Man City 76% to win, 18% for a draw, Sunderland 7%. Man City won: the pick was right. The final margin was 0.3 goals from ours; 77% of matches like this end further from the forecast than that.

Most of the distance between a forecast and a final score is luck: even with both clubs’ strength known exactly, a few shots decide a soccer match. This match was played before our forecasts went live, so this one was made afterwards, the same way, from only what was known before kickoff. How our predictions have done

The goals

Our source lists this match’s score but not who scored or when, so there is no timeline of it. The replay above needs only the score.

About these numbers

Scores and goals from openfootball (public domain). It has no shots, so there is no expected goals for this match and no finishing luck: the replay, the in-game win probability and the luck index are our own models, built from the season’s goals alone (methodology and validation). The luck index is how far the result was from what the goals say. Man City win 79% of replays (a draw counted as half).

All matchday 5 matches, 2026-27 · Man City · Sunderland

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