Manchester City continued their quest for a fourth successive Premier League title as they swept Luton Town aside at the Etihad Stadium. Mateo Kovacic, Erling Haaland, Jeremy Doku and Josko Gvariol added to an early own goal to heap misery on the relegation candidates, but placed pressure on Liverpool and Arsenal in the race for the title.
It was the ideal match between two Champions League quarter-final matches against Real Madrid, with the tie evenly balanced at 3-3 and the second leg to come on Wednesday evening in Manchester. Manager Pep Guardiola was able to rest Phil Foden, Rodri, Jack Grealish, John Stones and Bernardo Silva for the midweek match, but the Blues still had too much for the struggling visitors.
Before the match, Luton boss Rob Edwards said his team would arrive with ‘a belief and a confidence that stranger things have happened,’ with Luton needing to ‘ride their luck.’ And they certainly did that with a dominant display from City that, if better finishing had allowed, would have seen the Blues out of sight by half-time.
There must have been a fear in the away end as City took just over a minute to take the lead, albeit fortuitously. Haaland was through on goal, only to be denied by the keeper. Doku picked up the loose ball and his deflected shot gave Haaland the chance of a spectacular volley. It didn’t go quite to plan as his shot looked to be heading well wide of the goal. However, Daiki Hashioka got his head in the way and diverted the ball past his own keeper.
The blues were finding plenty of gaps in the Luton defence, and the impressive Doku was superb down the left, terrorising the visiting defence at will. But the luck that Edwards asked for before the match looked to have been granted as Nunes hit the post while Gvardiol and de Bruyne were denied by the keeper. The only surprise as the match reached the interval was that it was only 1-0.
The blues continued the momentum in the second half, with shots raining in on the Luton goal, only for the Faithful to see them flash wide of the post. City have be prone to visiting teams scoring with their first shot on target and the fear was that, the longer this stayed at 1-0, the greater the chance Luton could nick a goal at the other end.
In the 64th minute, Kovacic ruled that possibility out with a thumping half-volley that threatened to burst the net. A well-worked corner on the City left found Kova on the edge of the area, the the former Chelsea man hammered home to make it 2-0.
Luton heads dropped and the floodgates opened, allowing City to make up some of the goal difference on their rivals. But not before the visitors almost grabbed the obligatory goal that seems to come with every City performance at the moment. However, on this occasion, Cauley Woodrow’s shot cannoned off the bar to keep the clean sheet intact – for now.
With 14 minutes left, Doku weaved his way inside the penalty area, only to be brought down to give Haaland the chance to make it 3-0. After his first-half effort was awarded as an own goal, it was an opportunity the Norwegian hitman wouldn’t pass on, and he eased the ball home to secure the points.
Of course, no City match would be complete without a goal for the opposition. Ross Barkley was the man who took advantage of some slack defending from City to allow the former Chelsea man an opportunity, and he beat Ederson to give the away fans something to cheer.
However, Doku got the goal his performance deserved three minutes from time. The Belgian international weaved his way into the area and curled his shot off the post and into the goal to make it 4-1, before Gvardiol grabbed his second goal of the week, rifling home from the edge of the area to complete a thumping win and move top of the table.
Final Score: Manchester City 5-1 Luton Town