Manchester City rose to the top of the Premier League after defeating lowly Luton 5-1 at the Etihad, while Newcastle beat Tottenham 4-0 on Saturday.
Pep Guardiola could not have asked for a better fixture between the two legs of his team’s Champions League quarter-final against Real Madrid.
Guardiola made six changes from Tuesday’s exciting 3-3 draw in the Spanish capital, and City appeared to be in for a stress-free afternoon from the start, scoring after only two minutes.
Erling Haaland’s strike rebounded off the unfortunate Daiki Hashioka and into his own net.
However, the floodgates refused to flow, and the English champions had to wait until beyond the hour mark to secure the points when Mateo Kovacic slammed in Julian Alvarez’s cross from the edge of the box.
Haaland scored five goals, and the teams faced in the FA Cup in February.
The Norwegian was only able to score once this season, from the penalty spot, for his 20th Premier League goal.
Ross Barkley scored a late consolation for Luton, but they only have five games remaining to keep their top-flight status.
After jinking through the Luton defence, Jeremy Doku blasted into the far corner, followed by Josko Gvardiol’s second goal in a week, following his City debut in Madrid.
Victory puts City two points ahead of Arsenal and Liverpool, who both have a game in hand and are playing on Sunday.
Liverpool welcome Crystal Palace at Anfield, hoping to rebound from their stunning Europa League loss to Atalanta.
Arsenal host Aston Villa, who returned to the top four without kicking a ball on Saturday owing to Tottenham’s defeat at St. James’ Park.