Manchester City have thumped strugglers Luton 5-1 at the Etihad Stadium to move back top of the Premier League on a day when Ange Postecoglou’s Tottenham suffered a damaging blow in their bid for Champions League football next season.
After Spurs had been hammered 4-0 at Newcastle to drop out of the automatic Champions League qualification positions earlier on Saturday, champions City were at their rampant best at home to Luton.
They took the lead after only 65 seconds when a volley from Erling Haaland hit Luton defender Daiki Hashioka in the face and the ball deflected into the net.
Mateo Kovacic fired into the top corner from just inside the box to make it 2-0 in the 64th minute and added a third through a 77th minute penalty from Haaland, his league-leading 20th goal of the season.
Ross Barkley hit a consolation for the Hatters with 10 minutes left but Jeremy Doku and Josko Gvardiol added two more superb late goals as City moved two points clear of title rivals Arsenal and Liverpool, who are in action on Sunday.
In the early kickoff, Alexander Isak’s double helped Newcastle put a real dent in the hopes of Postecoglou’s Spurs.
The loss dropped Spurs below Aston Villa on goal difference into fifth place in the league, with only the top-four guaranteed Champions League football next season.
Isak and Anthony Gordon both scored within 95 seconds of each other in the first half as Newcastle followed up last season’s 6-1 home win over Spurs with another dominant performance.
Isak, who also scored twice in that big win last April, capped a stellar performance with a second goal in the 51st minute to take his tally to 17 in the league and 21 overall this season.
Gordon added his second assist of the game with a corner that was headed home by Fabian Schar for the fourth in the 87th.
“I was concerned with all of it,” said Postecoglou.
“I don’t think there was one area that cost us today. I don’t think there was any part of our game that reached the levels that it needs to for us to be able to play the games on our terms, so whether that’s the physical aspect, the technical, the tactical, all of it, we just never really got to any sort of tempo or intensity that we needed to, to stop a team that’s got momentum right from the start.”
Newcastle are now sixth, 10 points behind Villa and Tottenham.
Two penalty decisions helped Manchester United earn a 2-2 draw at Bournemouth, although any chance of qualifying for the Champions League seems to be slipping away.
Only a soft penalty in the 65th minute helped Bruno Fernandes equalise with his second goal of the game.
Bournemouth were then awarded an injury-time penalty when Ryan Christie collided with United defender Willy Kambwala as he was running into the box, but it was overturned after VAR ruled the foul happened just outside the area.
Relegation-battlers Burnley couldn’t make up ground on the sides above them after a shocking mistake from goalkeeper Arijanet Muric handed Brighton an equaliser in the 1-1 draw at Turf Moor.
Substitute Josh Brownhill put the Clarets ahead in the 74th minute but Brighton equalised just five minutes later when Muric allowed a backpass from Sander Berge to go under his foot for an own goal.
Brentford secured a first league win since early February as they beat bottom club Sheffield United 2-0 at the Gtech Community Stadium with a 63rd minute own goal from Blades midfielder Oliver Arblaster and a stoppage-time second from substitute Frank Onyeka.
Nottingham Forest fought back to draw 2-2 with Wolves and edge a point further clear of Luton, who remain in the final relegation spot.
© AAP
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