Man City whip Luton 5-1 at Etihad to top Premier League

Manchester City thrashed Luton Town 5-1 at Etihad Stadium and moved ahead of Arsenal and Liverpool to the top of the Premier League on Saturday.

With their title rivals both playing on Sunday, City no mistake against the relegation strugglers, taking just 90 seconds to open the scoring when Erling Haaland’s effort deflected in off the unfortunate Daiki Hashioka.

It was one-way traffic for the majority of the game with City’s first-half haul of 51 touches in the Luton box the most ever recorded in a first half of a Premier League game since Opta started capturing the data.

They had to wait until 64 minutes for the second but it was worth the wait when Mateo Kovacic found the top corner with a fantastic strike. Haaland then grabbed his 20th Premier League goal of the season from the penalty spot before Ross Barkley pulled one back for Luton.

That only poked the beast as City scored two late goals through Jeremy Doku and Josko Gvardiol which rubber-stamped the easy win.

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Rodri, Phil Foden, Jack Grealish, Bernardo Silva, and John Stones sat out as Pep Guardiola rotated ahead of their second leg with Real Madrid while goalkeeper Ederson replaced Stefan Ortega.

Kyle Walker was also on the bench after recovering from injury.

At the bottom of the table, Nottingham Forest edged one point clear of the bottom three after a thrilling 2-2 draw against Wolves.

Matheus Cunha struck twice for the visitors at the City Ground to deny Forest a vital three points after goals from Morgan Gibbs White and Danilo had put them 2-1 in front.

Brentford’s first win in 10 games pulled the Bees seven points clear of the drop zone as Ollie Arblaster’s own goal and Frank Onyeka earned a 2-0 victory over Sheffield United.

Burnley’s chances of survival are fading fast after a 1-1 draw at home to Brighton left them still second bottom, six points adrift of safety.

Manchester City will host the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final against Real Madrid on Wednesday, April 17. The first leg finished 3-3.

City then face Chelsea at Wembley on Saturday, April 20, in the FA Cup semi-finals.

Pep Guardiola’s side returns to Premier League action on Thursday, April 25, at Brighton.

Luton’s survival bid continues with a home fixture against Brentford on Saturday, April 20.

The Star