Andros Townsend has shared how and why it is so difficult to play against Manchester City.
The Luton Town winger has faced off against the Citizens on 15 occasions throughout his career, losing 12, drawing two and losing one.
His most recent encounters with Pep Guardiola’s side saw Luton lose 2-1 in the Premier League back in December and 6-2 in the FA Cup in February.
With the Blues now in the midst of yet another league title race, the Manchester club are battling Liverpool and Arsenal to be crowned as English champions.
After tonight’s Champions League match against Real Madrid, City will be taking on Luton at the Etihad Stadium for their next domestic game, ahead of which, Townsend has been sharing his experience of how difficult it is to play against Guardiola’s side.
Townsend says it’s so hard to play against City for one main reason
Speaking in a recent edition of Football Daily, Townsend had this to say when asked who the toughest opponents have been in the Premier League this season out of City, Arsenal and Liverpool.
He said: “I think Man City, because they, when we played Man City at home, we were on our top form in terms of how high we wanted to press, we were aggressive, we were leaving men behind, they beat our best press every single time. So in terms of beating the press, Man City.”
Looking back over City’s two victories against Rob Edwards’ side, the Blues racked up 35 combined attempts at goal in total, with 21 being on target.
Having scored eight goals in total, this shows how much of a problem the Treble winners have been for Luton in both matches they’ve had against them.
Taking into account how City have the highest passing accuracy percentage (88.3%) in the Premier League this season and have made more passes into the final third of the pitch (1577) than any other team in the division, this shows how effective they are when it comes to beating the press from their opponents by moving the ball around the pitch.
Looking ahead to this weekend’s match between City and Luton at the Etihad, this, and their remaining league games of the season, will need to see the home side pick up all three points if they want to have a chance of regaining the title.