Manchester City managed to end their four-match winless streak in the Premier League with a hard-fought 2-1 victory at Luton, while Chelsea faced further struggles with a 2-0 defeat at Everton on Sunday.
Despite missing their star striker Erling Haaland due to injury, Pep Guardiola’s side found themselves trailing to Elijah Adebayo’s goal late in the first half at Kenilworth Road.
However, City rallied back with two quick goals in the second half, with Bernardo Silva equalizing and Jack Grealish securing the winning goal, giving City a much-needed triumph after going winless in their previous five league matches.
Coming off a lackluster 1-0 loss to Aston Villa and successive draws against Chelsea, Liverpool, and Tottenham, City was in danger of falling behind in the title race, especially as Liverpool’s win at Crystal Palace had stretched the leaders’ lead to seven points over City.
Nonetheless, City’s gritty display against Luton allowed them to narrow the gap to four points behind Liverpool, though they still have work to do to regain control of their bid for a fourth successive top-flight title, especially with concerns about Haaland’s fitness and his potential absence in the upcoming Christmas schedule.
Meanwhile, Everton continued to defy the odds despite a 10-point Premier League deduction, as their victory over Chelsea pushed them four points clear of the relegation zone.
Abdoulaye Doucoure opened the scoring at Goodison Park before Lewis Dobbin’s first Everton goal sealed another damaging defeat for Chelsea under boss Mauricio Pochettino.
Pochettino made changes to his squad following a poor display in the midweek 2-1 loss at Manchester United, but struggled to address the team’s lack of a clinical edge up front, despite the significant investment in new players over the past three transfer windows.
In other matches, Fulham continued their dominance with a resounding 5-0 victory over West Ham at Craven Cottage, having previously beaten Nottingham Forest by the same scoreline just four days earlier, with Raul Jimenez, Willian, Tosin Adarabioyo, Harry Wilson, and Carlos Vinicius all finding the net.
AFP
