Silva, Grealish Score as Man City Fights Back to Beat Luton 2-1 in Premier League

Jack Grealish of Manchester City celebrates the win during the English Premier League match between Luton Town and Manchester City in Luton, Britain, 10 December 2023. (EPA)
Jack Grealish of Manchester City celebrates the win during the English Premier League match between Luton Town and Manchester City in Luton, Britain, 10 December 2023. (EPA)
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Silva, Grealish Score as Man City Fights Back to Beat Luton 2-1 in Premier League

Jack Grealish of Manchester City celebrates the win during the English Premier League match between Luton Town and Manchester City in Luton, Britain, 10 December 2023. (EPA)
Jack Grealish of Manchester City celebrates the win during the English Premier League match between Luton Town and Manchester City in Luton, Britain, 10 December 2023. (EPA)

Manchester City ended its four-match winless run in the Premier League by coming from behind to beat Luton 2-1 thanks to two goals in a three-minute span by Bernardo Silva and Jack Grealish on Sunday.

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 against the run of play at Kenilworth Road.

Luton led Arsenal at home after an hour on Tuesday only to lose and the same thing happened against City, which equalized when Silva pounced on the loose ball following a tackle on Rodri and curled a finish into the bottom corner in the 62nd.

Grealish then converted a cross to the far post by Julian Alvarez in the 65th to earn City a win after three straight draws — to Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham — followed by a loss at Aston Villa on Wednesday.

City was without Erling Haaland because he was sidelined with a foot injury but the return from suspension of Rodri and Grealish proved vital as the defending champions moved four points behind first-place Liverpool. City remained in fourth place, however, also behind Arsenal and Villa after 16 games.

Without the comeback, City manager Pep Guardiola would have stumbled into his worst streak of results in his coaching career, having never gone five matches without a win.



Amorim is 'Very Excited' about where 14th-place Man United Can Go in 2025

Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim reacts at the end of the English Premier League match between Manchester United and Newcastle United in Manchester, Britain, 30 December 2024. EPA/ADAM VAUGHAN
Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim reacts at the end of the English Premier League match between Manchester United and Newcastle United in Manchester, Britain, 30 December 2024. EPA/ADAM VAUGHAN
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Amorim is 'Very Excited' about where 14th-place Man United Can Go in 2025

Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim reacts at the end of the English Premier League match between Manchester United and Newcastle United in Manchester, Britain, 30 December 2024. EPA/ADAM VAUGHAN
Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim reacts at the end of the English Premier League match between Manchester United and Newcastle United in Manchester, Britain, 30 December 2024. EPA/ADAM VAUGHAN

Despite his team entering 2025 in 14th place in the Premier League, Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim is “very excited” about the year ahead.
United’s 2-0 home defeat to Newcastle on Monday saw it suffer five league losses in the same calendar month for the first time since September 1962, and a fourth straight reverse in all competitions means the Red Devils have lost six of their last eight.
But in a message posted on his club's official X account on New Year’s Eve, Amorim wrote: “I know it will take a lot of hard work from everyone to get there, but I am very excited about where we can go together in 2025.”
Amorim is yet to halt the alarming slide which led to Erik ten Hag’s dismissal in October, and his team is seven points above the drop zone with increasing talk of a relegation fight, including by Amorim himself who has called it “a possibility.”
But the Portuguese says he's determined to press on with the 3-4-3 system despite the difficulties United’s squad has had in adapting, The Associated Press reported.
“Of course I didn’t choose the players specifically for these positions but that I already knew,” he said. “But I understand they have a lot of difficulties because they spend two years playing one way and then they are playing another."
Amorim did not have the benefit of a pre-season to implement such a major change to United’s tactical model, and admitted that is having a significant impact.
“I think the players are losing everything, the small things that we try to work on in training," Amorim said. "After one goal they lose everything because we don’t have the base, we don’t have time to build the base to cope with the difficult moments so it’s really hard in this moment.”
United has the toughest of starts to 2025 when it travels to play league leader Liverpool on Sunday in what is widely considered English soccer’s fiercest rivalry.