How about Mat, Pep?
KOVACIC ROCKET HELPS CITY TOP AS GUARDIOLA RESTS HOT ROD
RODRI may be Pep Guardiola’s lucky charm – but four-time Champions League winner Mateo Kovacic made sure Manchester City didn’t miss their talisman one bit.
Kovacic was City’s lone anchorman against Luton while Spanish midfielder Rodri was given a breather after complaining of fatigue.
And the Croatian, three times a Champions
League winner with Real Madrid, topped off a super-smooth display to help City storm to the top of the table – for 24 hours at least.
Kovacic scored City’s crucial second goal with a superbly executed volley to help Guardiola’s stars navigate what proved, for a while at least, a tricky game.
The Hatters, pulverised 6-2 by City at Kenilworth Road in the FA Cup in February, managed to frustrate the champions for long spells with body-on-the-line defending.
But City eventually cut loose in the closing stages to score three times in the final phase of the game as Luton wilted. The biggest plus for Guardiola, though, was that he was able to rest main stars Rodri, Phil Foden, Bernardo Silva and Jack Grealish ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League quarter-final return against Real Madrid.
And the return of Kyle Walker and Nathan Ake, fit enough for the bench, made it pretty much the perfect day for the City boss.
The general view is that if City, Premier League champions in five of the last six seasons, put their foot on the gas they can take the title race away from Arsenal and Liverpool.
But they made hard work of it despite the boost of scoring
a goal so quickly no one
had time to raise a sweat. Luton haven’t had much luck on their Premier League travels since promotion last summer.
And their unlikely hopes of victory at The Etihad were dealt a major blow after just 66 seconds.
Daiki Hashioka diverted Erling Haaland’s wildly offtarget shot past Thomas Kaminski via his face.
And it looked as if it might open the floodgates especially with
Kevin De Bruyne in the groove. But with Luton working like beasts, Guardiola had to wait for over an hour before Kovacic’s rocket made victory safe.
Even then, City had a scare when Fred Onyedinma robbed Josko Gvardiol and pulled the ball back for Cauley Woodrow to sweep a shot against the bar.
Onyedinma then blatantly fouled livewire Jeremy Doku for a clear penalty, coolly converted by Haaland for his 20th Premier League goal of the
season. Brave Luton came again with Ross Barkley firing home after a mistake by Matheus Nunes but Doku tortured Onyedinma to score City’s fourth.
Gvardiol wrapped up the scoring with a near carbon-copy of his strike away to Madrid in midweek to put City back on top.