The State of Play
Pep Guardiola is leading his Manchester City on a charge to potentially becoming ‘double treble’ winners. They have a massive week coming up with this clash against Luton Town falling in between both legs of their UEFA Champions League quarter-final against Real Madrid, which is sitting at three apiece after the clash at the Bernabeu, and they are facing Chelsea at Wembley Stadium next weekend in the semi-finals of the FA Cup.
Luton Town have been almost comically competitive but unfortunate in games against the so-called ‘big six’ this season and that was the case in the reverse fixture when they took the lead against City at Kenilworth Road in December before losing 2-1. Rob Edwards’ Hatters remain in the bottom three and the relegation places but only below Nottingham Forest on goal difference ahead of the weekend.
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Team News
Ederson has returned to fitness and is expected to come back into the City side in place of Stefan Ortega. Both Kyle Walker and Nathan Ake remain unavailable for this weekend, whilst Phil Foden is doubtful.
Rob Edwards’ injury list throughout this season has been ridiculous and it remains long. Luton are without Tom Lockyer, Marvelous Nakamba, Jacob Brown, Dan Potts, Amari’i Bell, Elijah Adebayo, Chiedozie Ogbene, Mads Andersen, Albert Sambi Lokonga, Gabriel Osho and Issa Kabore, who is ineligible against his parent club.
Expected Line-ups
Manchester City: Ederson; Lewis, Akanji, Dias, Gvardiol; Kovacic; Silva, De Bruyne, Alvarez, Doku; Haaland
Luton Town: Kaminski; Hashioka, Mengi, Burke, Doughty; Barkley, Berry, Clark; Townsend, Morris, Chong
What they Said
In the aftermath of their UEFA Champions League quarter-final, Pep Guardiola as keen to heap praise on Real Madrid and the Bernabeu, who fought back for a draw, saying ‘here it is never over’.
After Luton defeated Bournemouth by two goals to one at Kenilworth Road last weekend, Rob Edwards described himself as ‘drained’ with the Hatters just about keeping themselves alive.
When and How to Watch
This match will be played at the Etihad Stadium at 15:00 on Saturday April 13th but will not be legally televised in the UK. It will also therefore not be able to be streamed live in the UK.
Prediction
Manchester City have been really strong for a few months now in terms of avoiding defeat and marching towards all three possible trophies. However, they haven’t been as fluent and as overwhelmingly dominant as they have been in recent seasons. Luton will go to the Etihad knowing they have what it takes to create situations that hurt the hosts. City should win comfortably but both teams scoring would also seem like a reasonable bet.
