LONDON: Without the injured Erling Haaland and trailing 1-0 to Luton at halftime, Manchester City were in danger of plunging into a full-blown crisis approaching the halfway point of their Premier League title defense. 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, with Guardiola saying Haaland will be assessed ahead of the home game against Crystal Palace on Saturday.NEWCASTLE SUFFERING The injuries are piling up for Newcastle, and so are the losses. With the 4-1 thrashing at Tottenham, Newcastle have lost more games in the Premier League — six — than the team had in the whole of the
