Without the injured Erling Haaland and trailing 1-0 to Luton at halftime, Manchester City was in danger of plunging into a full-blown crisis approaching the halfway point of its Premier League title defence.
The defending champions managed to turn it round, though, as goals by Bernardo Silva and Jack Grealish in a three-minute span earned a 2-1 victory Sunday that ended their four-match winless run and trimmed the gap to first-place Liverpool to four points.
If it wasn't for the recovery in the second half, City manager Pep Guardiola would have stumbled into the worst streak of results in his coaching career, having never gone five matches without a win.
That was the bleak scenario facing Guardiola and City after striker Elijah Adebayo headed in Andros Townsend’s cross at the back post in the second minute of first-half stoppage time to give Luton the lead at Kenilworth Road — five days after the promoted hosts blew a 3-2 lead against Arsenal to lose 4-3.
Haaland was sidelined because of a foot injury so City was without the league's top scorer in its bid to produce a fightback.
Still, Rodri was back from suspension and when the Spain midfielder's surge into the area was stopped by a timely challenge, Silva was there to pounce on the loose ball and curl a finish into the bottom corner in the 62nd.
Grealish then converted a cross by Julian Alvarez in the 65th.
City stayed in fourth place.
SPURS BACK ON TRACK
Tottenham powered to its first Premier League win in six weeks by thrashing a tired-looking Newcastle team 4-1, with Richarlison scoring a goal in each half.
Destiny Udogie — with his first Premier League goal — and Son Heung-min — from a late penalty — also scored for Spurs, which ended a five-game winless run that saw them plummet from the top of the standings to outside the top four.
“We could have had more goals but our attacking play was as good as it has been for a while,” Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou said. “You can see Newcastle are running on fumes — we’ve gone through that and hopefully we are coming out the other side.”
Saudi-owned Newcastle is paying the price for a lengthy injury list that has led to manager Eddie Howe fielding the same starting lineup for five straight games in all competitions. The team lacked energy and sprightliness, especially in midfield, and could have lost by a bigger margin at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium ahead of a must-win game against AC Milan in the Champions League on Wednesday.
Newcastle has now lost six Premier League games this season, one more than the whole of the 2022-23 campaign. It has just one away win — an 8-0 victory at Sheffield United — and stayed in seventh place, now four points adrift of fifth-place Spurs.
Joelinton scored a consolation goal in stoppage time for Newcastle.
SURGING EVERTON
Everton is surging clear of the relegation zone, less than a month after plunging into the bottom three after being deducted 10 points for financial mismanagement.
A 2-0 win over Chelsea secured a third straight win for Everton, which has moved four points clear of third-from last Luton.
Abdoulaye Doucoure scored for the third time in five games, converting a rebound in the 54th after Dominic Calvert-Lewin had a shot saved by Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sanchez. Lewis Dobbin added a second in the second minute of stoppage time.
After spending around $1 billion on players in the last three transfer windows, Chelsea isn't even in the top half after losing three of its last four games.
The visitors also lost right back Reece James to another injury after he was forced off in the 27th minute with a suspected hamstring problem.
IN-FORM JIMENEZ
Raul Jimenez is enjoying a new lease of life at Fulham.
The Mexico international went through some lean times after sustaining a career-threatening head injury while playing for Wolverhampton in November 2020. From being one of the most sought-after strikers in the Premier League, he appeared to lose all of his confidence and was sold to Fulham in July.
With his 22nd-minute strike in Fulham's 5-0 win over West Ham, Jimenez has four goals in his last five games and is leading a midseason resurgence from the London club.
Willian and Tosin Adarabioyo added first-half goals while Harry Wilson and Carlos Vinicius added more after the break as Fulham scored at least three goals for the fourth straight game, after doing so against Wolverhampton, Liverpool and Nottingham Forest.
It was a second straight 5-0 win, after thrashing Forest by that score in midweek.
Marco Silva's team is now in 10th place and only three points behind ninth-place West Ham, whose four-match unbeaten run in the league came to an end.
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