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Manchester City's players celebrate the 2-0

Photo: Justin Tallis / AFP

Without injured superstar Erling Haaland, Manchester City have ended their Premier League results crisis. After four games without a win, the English football champions came to a 62-65 (2-1) win at promoted Luton Town on Sunday after a double strike from Bernardo Silva (0nd minute) and Jack Grealish (1th). Chelsea, on the other hand, have picked up just 16 points from 19 games and lost again at Everton on Sunday.

With 33 points, Pep Guardiola's team has four points less than league leaders Liverpool with Jürgen Klopp. Runners-up Arsenal and surprise team Aston Villa are also ahead of the defending champions.

Guardiola confirmed before kick-off that striker Haaland will be out for the time being with a foot injury. "How long, I can't say. We look from week to week, day by day. We'll see what happens," said the former Bayern coach. Haaland suffered "a stress reaction in his foot" after the 0-1 defeat at Aston Villa last Wednesday, Guardiola reported.

City turn the game around in the second half

For Haaland, Argentina's World Cup winner Julián Álvarez moved into the middle of the attack. Despite their usual superiority, City barely managed to get Luton Town's defence into trouble. At the other end, the newly promoted side were on target: In first-half stoppage time, Elijah Adebayo surprisingly headed the underdogs into the lead from close range (45'+2').

Man City were also much more on the ball in the second half, but again failed to create good scoring chances. Bernardo Silva redeemed Guardiola's team with a perfect curler into the far corner (62'). Three minutes later, Grealish turned the match around after Julián Álvarez's pass and ensured that City returned to three points in the Premier League after three draws and one defeat.

Bitter afternoon for Chelsea

Chelsea, on the other hand, had a bitter afternoon. Goals from Abdoulaye Doucoure and Lewis Dobbin (54'/90'+2) saw the Londoners lose away from home for the third time in a row. Chelsea occupy twelfth place in the table, the gap to the Champions League places is 14 points.

"I'm very, very disappointed. We didn't get the point we deserved," Chelsea coach Mauricio Pochettino told the BBC after the game. I think we were better, but we didn't get what we wanted."

In the middle of the first half, captain Reece James had to leave the field with a thigh injury.

mlb/dpa/Reuters/sid