Master struggles in Luton
Without Haaland, Manchester City can win again
December 10, 2023, 5:49 p.m
Manchester City can finally celebrate a victory in the Premier League again: the star ensemble is trying to achieve a must-win against the blatant outsiders from Luton. Superstar Erling Haaland can’t help.
Without injured superstar Erling Haaland, Manchester City has ended its negative streak in the Premier League. After four games without success, the English football champions won 2-1 (0-1) at newly promoted Luton Town after a double strike from Bernardo Silva (62nd minute) and Jack Grealish (65th). With 33 points, Pep Guardiola’s team has four points less than league leaders Liverpool FC with Jürgen Klopp. Runner-up Arsenal FC and surprise team Aston Villa are also still ahead of the defending champions.
Guardiola confirmed before kick-off that striker Haaland would be out for the time being with a foot injury. “I can’t say for how long. We’ll look week by week, day by day. We’ll see what happens,” said the former Bayern coach. Argentina’s world champion Julián Álvarez moved into the middle of the storm for Haaland.
Despite their known superiority, the Cityzens barely managed to cause problems for Luton Town’s defense. On the other hand, the newcomers were accurate: in stoppage time in the first half, Elijah Adebayo surprisingly headed the outsiders into the lead from close range (45th + 2).
Man City had a lot more possession of the ball in the second half, but again didn’t have any good opportunities to score. Bernardo Silva redeemed Guardiola’s team with a perfect shot into the far corner (62′). Three minutes later, Grealish finally turned the match around after a pass from Julián Álvarez and secured three City points in the Premier League after three draws and one defeat.