Manchester City 5-1 Luton Town: Citizens rout the Hatters to go top
Champions Manchester City moved to the top of the Premier League table after defeating lowly Luton Town 5-1 on Saturday, with Erling Haaland scoring his 20th league goal of the season.
Pep Guardiola's team have 73 points with six games remaining in a thrilling three-way title race, two ahead of Arsenal and Liverpool, who can leapfrog City with wins on Sunday. Luton are 18th and one point below the safety zone, putting them at risk of relegation.
"For a few hours (we are top)," Guardiola told the BBC. "(Sunday) they have to play, all we can do is win our games and if we cannot do it we congratulate them."
City scored within 70 seconds when Jeremy Doku's shot was deflected to Haaland, who volleyed hard off Daiki Hashioka's face and into the net.
Although the game was played almost entirely in Luton's defensive third, the visitors defended tenaciously, and City's floodgates did not open until Mateo Kovacic scored in the 64th minute, picking the ball up on the edge of the box and shooting into the top corner.
Haaland extended his league-leading scoring record with a penalty in the 76th minute after Doku was brought down in the box.
Ross Barkley took advantage of a City defensive blunder to pull one back in the 84th minute, before Doku's shot into the far corner after a stunning dribble made it 4-1. Josko Gvardiol finished the rout seconds before the final whistle.
"Incredible guys," Guardiola said about Kovacic and Gvardiol. "Everyone has permission to score and it's so important."
City, seeking their fourth consecutive Premier League title, dominated the match with 73.7% possession and 37 shots to the visitors' four.
"Today was always going to be very difficult... I don't want to sound defeatist, but almost made peace with it at the beginning," Luton manager Rob Edwards said. "We stayed in the game as long as we could."
"I'm proud of the lads, they gave everything. No one likes losing 5-1, but (City) are a brilliant football team. They suffocated us. It was a long day for us today."
Arsenal host Aston Villa on Sunday, while Liverpool host Crystal Palace.
City cannot afford to rest on their laurels as they host Real Madrid in the second leg of their Champions League quarterfinal on Wednesday. The teams drew 3-3 in the first leg. On Saturday, they travel to Wembley Stadium to face Chelsea in the FA Cup semi-finals.
SportsLigue