Man City vs Luton Town – Premier League: Live score, team news and updates as Pep Guardiola’s side go in search of vital win in the title chase plus updates from Nottingham Forest vs Wolves, Burnley vs Brighton and Brentford vs Sheffield United

A champions’ welcome for City ahead of today’s match.

Kick-off is, what, just over half an hour away.

I don’t want to disrespect Luton but I feel like it’s a matter of how many today. I’ve gone with five in my predictions.

I want Ivan to start and score goals. He is a beast and plays through everything. The injury is not as good as we hoped for; he’s on the bench and fine for that.

I want him available for as many minutes as possible between now and the end of the season.

Elsewhere, Ivan Toney is on the bench again…

Tom Collomosse, Mail Sport, at the City Ground:

First start for Gio Reyna in a Forest shirt. He was signed on loan in January but has had little chance to make an impression. With Anthony Elanga absent, there can be no better time for the USA playmaker to deliver.

Here’s how Nuno Espirito Santo and Gary O’Neil have lined their teams up today:

Forest: Sels, Williams, Omobamidele, Murillo, Aina, Danilo, Reyna, Yates, Hudson-Odoi, Gibbs-White, Wood.

Wolves: Sa, Semedo, S Bueno, Kilman, Toti, Doherty, Gomes, M Lemina, Doyle, Sarabia, Cunha.

No Elanga for Forest, no Ait Nouri for Wolves.

Escuse the awful Forest graphic embed.

So it’s Ortega, Stones, Rodri, Bernardo, Foden and Grealish who drop out for City from the Madrid draw, replaced by Ederson, Lewis, Dias, Nunes, Alvarez and Doku.

Burke makes it for Luton to help the patched-up defence.

Nathan Salt, Mail Sport, at the Etihad:

Rodri said in the wake of the draw away to Real Madrid that he needed a rest and Pep Guardiola has given it to him today as he’s one of the players to drop to the bench. Phil Foden is another among the subs.

Imagine making five changes and you’ve still got the likes of Haaland, De Bruyne, Alvarez, Doku and more in the team. Great depth.

Kaminski, Onyedinma, Burko, Hashioka, Doughty, Berry, Barkley, Clark, Townsend, Chong, Morris.

Subs: Shea, Krul, Woodrow, Mpanzu, Johnson, Harris, Chigozie, Nelson, Piesold.

Ederson, Lewis, Akanji, Dias, Gvardiol, Kovacic, Nunes, De Bruyne, Alvarez, Doku, Haaland.

Subs: Ortega, Walker, Ake, Grealish, Rodri, Bernardo, Gomez, Foden, Bobb.

Following a knock in midweek and a run of games that has seen a sensational run of form, there has been a late change to the City line-up and Phil Foden does not start for the hosts.

I mentioned Luton’s injury crisis in defence but allow me to outline just how bad it is.

Gabriel Osho, Tom Lockyer, Reece Burke, Mads Andersen, Amarai Bell, Teden Mengi, Dan Potts.

What do those seven players have in common? They are all centre backs and they are all injured.

Rob Edwards has to earn his money to pick his defence today.

Sorry to plug this again, but Newcastle are running absolutely riot against Tottenham, who are all over the place.

Alexander Isak has two, Anthony Gordon has one, Son Heung-min has just been hooked and it should be about 8-0.

Follow it below if you’d like to!

Nathan Salt, Mail Sport, at the Etihad:

There’s a really nice interview in the matchday programme today with Ruben Dias where he talks about catching himself getting carried away looking at the remaining fixtures.

It’s easy to get distracted when the likes of Real Madrid are coming here in a few days time but Luton have shown time and again that they don’t go away quietly. With Arsenal and Liverpool both not playing until tomorrow, City have to lay down a gauntlet in this title race today… and not get preoccupied with the blockbuster games to come.

A real good piece from our City correspondent Jack Gaughan here, with Pep Guardiola revealing that he’s having his ‘toughest season in years’.

On the back of winning the Treble, the challenge is always staying on top and though another Treble can be won again this season, it’s not been as plain sailing.

They are currently third in the table in a three-horse title race and face a challenge against Real Madrid next week in the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final tie.

Win that, and Arsenal or Bayern Munich await.

Read more below on that. A great read if I do say so myself.

Elsewhere, Sheffield United and Burnley are both in action and must win if they are to stand any chance at all of staying in the Premier League this season.

United are nine points adrift and Burnley six. They can technically both stay up, but it admittedly just feels like a matter of time.

Brentford are only four points clear of the drop but have a good run in, and a win today would help their cause.

Forest, meanwhile, are out the relegation zone on goal difference so their match against Wolves is a big one too.

Today may provide a good opportuntiy for Pep Guardiola to rest players, with a City win surely all but guaranteed.

Rodri may sit out, with the midfielder declairng after the Real Madrid game in the week that he is in need of a rest and his manager saying he will get one if he wants one. Where’s Kalvin Phillips when you need him?

Elsewhere, we have been reliably informed that Erling Haaland starts, but he may be withdrawn early if the damage is done.

We will have the team sheet in around 40 mintues.

Onto today then, and Manchester City are the first of the three tite-chasing sides to play this weekend.

With all due respect to Luton, they couldn’t really ask for a better game. The Hatters are not only fighting relegation, but have an injury crisis and a half in defence.

The likes of Erling Haaland and Phil Foden will be licking their lips. Win, and the champions will go to the top of the table, at least temporarily.

Elsewhere today, Manchester United will travel to Bournemouth later, but Newcastle versus Tottenham is well underway in the north east with the home side just scoring two quick goals to go 2-0 up.

My colleague Harry Bamforth is covering that one, so click below if you want to follow that one live.

Good afternoon one and all and welcome to Mail Sport’s live coverage of the 3pm kick offs in the Premier League, featuring Manchester City versus Luton.

We have four games for you this afternoon including the champions, with Brentford vs Sheffield United, Burnley vs Brighton and Nottingham Forest vs Wolves also taking place.

It’s an afternoon that will shape the table at both ends of the table, so strap in and stick with us!