Premier League: Man City hammers Luton 5-1 to provisionally move to top of standings

Champion Manchester City provisionally climbed to the top of the Premier League table after thrashing lowly Luton Town 5-1 on Saturday, with Daiki Hashioka scoring an own goal off his face and Erling Haaland netting his 20th league goal of the season.

Pep Guardiola’s men have 73 points with six games remaining in a rip-roaring three-way title race, two points ahead of both Arsenal and Liverpool, which can climb over City with victories in their respective games on Sunday. Relegation-threatened Luton Town is 18th and a point shy of the safety zone.

City got on the scoreboard inside 70 seconds after Jeremy Doku’s shot was deflected to Haaland, whose volley smashed hard off poor Hashioka’s face and into the net.

Although the game was played almost exclusively in Luton’s defensive third, however, the visitor defended fiercely, and the floodgates did not open for City until Mateo Kovacic scored in the 64th minute, picking the ball up on the edge of the box and shooting into the top corner of the net.

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Haaland extended his league-scoring record with a penalty in the 76th after Doku was taken down in the area.

Although the game was played almost exclusively in Luton’s defensive third, however, the visitors defended fiercely, and the floodgates did not open for City until Mateo Kovacic scored in the 64th minute, picking the ball up on the edge of the box and shooting into the top corner of the net.

Haaland extended his league-scoring record with a penalty in the 76th after Doku was taken down in the area.

Ross Barkley capitalised on a City defensive blunder to pull one back in the 84th minute before Doku’s shot into the far corner after a dazzling dribble made it 4-1. Josko Gvardiol completed the rout seconds before the final whistle.

City dominated the match with 73.7% possession and bombarded the visitors with 37 shots to their 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 hosts Aston Villa on Sunday and Liverpool hosts Crystal Palace.

City have no time to rest on their laurels as they host Real Madrid in the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final on Wednesday. The teams drew 3-3 in the opening leg. They then head to Wembley on Saturday for an FA Cup semifinal against Chelsea.