Manchester City return to winning ways with 2-1 victory over Luton

LUTON, England :Bernardo Silva and Jack Grealish scored three minutes apart as Manchester City came from behind to beat Premier League newcomers Luton Town 2-1 on Sunday and breathe a collective sigh of relief with their first victory in five league games.

The win kept the champions - who were missing striker Erling Haaland through injury - in fourth place on 33 points, four shy of leaders Liverpool in a crowded title fight. Luton remain in the drop zone on nine points, four adrift of 17th place.

"Great performance after what happened in (recent) results," City manager Pep Guardiola told the BBC. "We conceded the goal in the last minute of the first half. It was a really good test and the players reacted as they had to."

The home fans were celebrating at halftime at a raucous Kenilworth Road after Elijah Adebayo rose to meet a cross from Andros Townsend and headed in the opener seconds before the break.

But after numerous City near-misses, Silva scored in the 62nd minute when he curled a low left-footed strike into the far corner past goalkeeper Thomas Kaminski.

Grealish netted his 50th career goal three minutes later when Julian Alvarez sent a cross across the face of the goal that the 28-year-old stretched to slot in.

"We knew we had to keep calm today and buzzing to get back to winning ways," Grealish told Sky Sports.

"I think a lot of people like to talk about City and go on like it's a big crisis; in reality we've played very good teams - Spurs who've been unbelievable, Liverpool who are top, Chelsea and Villa away, who've got one of the best records in Europe."

City arrived at Luton reeling from three draws and a midweek defeat by Aston Villa that saw last season's treble winners plummet to fourth having topped the