Luton Town 1-2 Man City: Bernardo Silva and Jack Grealish complete comeback- QHN


Jack Grealish score for Manchester City
Jack Grealish scored the 50th goal of his club career

Manchester City needed a second-half comeback to beat Luton Town at Kenilworth Road and end their four-match winless run in the Premier League.

Pep Guardiola’s side were facing back-to-back league defeats for the first time since December 2019 when Elijah Adebayo gave Luton the lead in first-half stoppage time, rising highest at the back post to head in Andros Townsend’s cross.

But Bernardo Silva latched on to a loose ball in the penalty area and equalised for the visitors with a fine curling effort.

Three minutes later City completed the turnaround when Jack Grealish converted Julian Alvarez’s low cross.

Victory means the champions stay fourth, four points behind leaders Liverpool, while third-from-bottom Luton are now four points off safety following Everton’s win over Chelsea.

City record first league win in five weeks

City came into Sunday’s fixture on the back of their joint-longest run without a win under Guardiola.

While key players Rodri and Grealish returned after missing Wednesday’s loss to Aston Villa through suspension, leading scorer Erling Haaland was absent having picked up a foot injury in training.

At half-time there was a real sense of jeopardy for City, who would have been seven points off Liverpool with a loss.

But in the second half, despite not having Haaland’s imposing presence up front, City returned to their ruthless selves.

Just before their goals they hit the bar through Ruben Diaz’s thunderous shot following Nathan Ake’s cutback.

And once they took the lead they held Luton at arm’s length to record their first league win since beating Bournemouth 6-1 on 4 November.

Luton slip further adrift

Luton have faced last season’s top two in the space of five days and have taken the lead in both matches only to be stung by second-half comebacks.

It is a testament to how far the Hatters have risen up the football pyramid in recent seasons, and a bouncing Kenilworth Road was again witness to Luton going ahead against a powerhouse of English football.

However, outside of Adebayo’s goal, the hosts were limited to half-chances. And, despite two promising performances, Rob Edwards’ side have lost their past three matches and won only one of their past 10.

A gap is also re-emerging between the bottom three and the rest of the division. At half-time on Sunday Luton were a point above the relegation zone in the as-things-stand table.

But their loss, coupled with Everton’s win, means Luton ended the day further adrift in the bottom three and in desperate need of points.

Player of the match

AdebayoElijah Adebayo

Luton Town

  1. Squad number11Player nameAdebayo

  2. Squad number30Player nameTownsend

  3. Squad number6Player nameBarkley

  4. Squad number19Player nameBrown

  5. Squad number26Player nameGiles

  6. Squad number4Player nameLockyer

  7. Squad number45Player nameDoughty

  8. Squad number13Player nameNakamba

  9. Squad number29Player nameBell

  10. Squad number24Player nameKaminski

  11. Squad number15Player nameMengi

  12. Squad number9Player nameMorris

  13. Squad number14Player nameChong

  14. Squad number28Player nameSambi Lokonga

  15. Squad number18Player nameClark

Line-ups

Luton

Formation 3-4-3

  • 24Kaminski
  • 15Mengi
  • 4LockyerSubstituted forClarkat 90′minutes
  • 29Bell
  • 45DoughtyBooked at 77mins
  • 13NakambaBooked at 58minsSubstituted forSambi Lokongaat 72′minutes
  • 6Barkley
  • 26GilesSubstituted forChongat 84′minutes
  • 30TownsendSubstituted forMorrisat 72′minutes
  • 11Adebayo
  • 19Brown

Substitutes

  • 5Andersen
  • 8Berry
  • 9Morris
  • 14Chong
  • 17Mpanzu
  • 18Clark
  • 23Krul
  • 28Sambi Lokonga
  • 38Johnson

Man City

Formation 4-2-3-1

  • 31Ederson
  • 2Walker
  • 3Rúben Dias
  • 6Aké
  • 24GvardiolSubstituted forStonesat 69′minutes
  • 16RodriBooked at 73mins
  • 8KovacicSubstituted forNunesat 83′minutes
  • 20Bernardo Silva
  • 47FodenSubstituted forAkanjiat 90+3′minutes
  • 10Grealish
  • 19Álvarez

Substitutes

  • 4Phillips
  • 5Stones
  • 18Ortega
  • 21Gómez
  • 25Akanji
  • 27Nunes
  • 33Carson
  • 52Bobb
  • 82Lewis
Referee:
Tim Robinson

Attendance:
11,047

Live Text

  1. Match ends, Luton Town 1, Manchester City 2.

  2. Second Half ends, Luton Town 1, Manchester City 2.

  3. Corner, Luton Town. Conceded by Rodri.

  4. Hand ball by Teden Mengi (Luton Town).

  5. Foul by Rúben Dias (Manchester City).

  6. Carlton Morris (Luton Town) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

  7. Substitution, Manchester City. Manuel Akanji replaces Phil Foden.

  8. Corner, Luton Town. Conceded by Rúben Dias.

  9. Attempt missed. Tahith Chong (Luton Town) left footed shot from the centre of the box misses to the left following a corner.

  10. Corner, Luton Town. Conceded by Nathan Aké.

  11. Hand ball by Rúben Dias (Manchester City).

  12. Substitution, Luton Town. Jordan Clark replaces Tom Lockyer.

  13. Jack Grealish (Manchester City) wins a free kick on the left wing.

  14. Foul by Teden Mengi (Luton Town).

  15. Foul by Rodri (Manchester City).

  16. Tahith Chong (Luton Town) wins a free kick on the left wing.

  17. Offside, Luton Town. Elijah Adebayo is caught offside.

  18. Substitution, Luton Town. Tahith Chong replaces Ryan Giles.

  19. Substitution, Manchester City. Matheus Nunes replaces Mateo Kovacic.

  20. Corner, Luton Town. Conceded by Bernardo Silva.

Note:- (Not all news on the site expresses the point of view of the site, but we transmit this news automatically and translate it through programmatic technology on the site and not from a human editor. The content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.))