Brian Brobbey was the star of the show for Sunderland as he scored a hat-trick in Sunday’s 5-3 defeat at Manchester City.

Brian Brobbey produced the individual performance of the Premier League weekend and racked up one of the most unusual achievements of the new season.

The Netherlands international had endured something of a frustrating opening to the campaign as he failed to find the net in Sunderland’s first six games in all competitions - but that all changed in spectacular circumstances as Brobbey plundered a memorable hat-trick in Sunday’s 5-3 defeat at title contenders Manchester City. The former Ajax frontman used all of his physical presence and strength to consistently disrupt a high-class City defence and he reaped the personal rewards by hitting the first treble of his Sunderland career.

Sunderland forward Brian Brobbey. | Getty Images.

placeholder image — Sunderland forward Brian Brobbey. | Getty Images.

Speaking about the amount of chances his side created and Brobbey’s influence, the Black Cats boss said: "It's about the quality of our players. The gameplan was really clear, about how we were able to manage the spaces and when they went tight we have Brian, who's a really good target, and when they decided to protect the central area we got an overload, so we managed the situation really well."

According to The xG Philosophy, Brobbey was able to rack up a higher expected goals (xG) than Sunday’s opponents and his total of 3.09xG was better than every other Premier League side over the weekend apart from one - and that was his own side as Sunderland emerged from their defeat at the Etihad Stadium with an xG of 4.61. But how does their average xG during the new season compare to their Premier League rivals?