Rasmus Hojlund's historic brace earned Manchester United a 2-1 win at Luton Town that moves them just THREE points behind fifth-placed Tottenham Hotspur.
Hojlund scored twice in the opening seven minutes to become the youngest player in Premier League history to net in six consecutive matches.
Carlton Morris pulled a goal back for Luton, for whom Ross Barkley hit the crossbar in the last minute of second-half stoppage time.
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How the match unfolded
Luton made two changes to their starting XI, with former Man Utd players Tahith Chong and Teden Mengi recalled. However, the Hatters suffered a blow in the warm-up as Elijah Adebayo sustained an injury and Cauley Woodrow was called up to make his first Premier League start for 10 years.
Man Utd named the same side that won at Aston Villa last time out, with Luke Shaw passed fit. It was the first time they started with the same XI for consecutive matches since the first two fixtures of the season.
Hojlund gave Man Utd a dream start, scoring their fastest goal in the Premier League this season, after just 37 seconds.
The Danish striker intercepted Amari'i Bell's loose pass and rounded goalkeeper Thomas Kaminski to score. Aged 21 years and 14 days, he broke Joe Willock's record (21y 272d) for the youngest player to net in six successive appearances.
In the seventh minute, Hojlund made it seven goals in his last six appearances. A Shaw corner found its way to Alejandro Garnacho, whose shot Hojlund deflected into the corner of the net with his chest.
With just 14 minutes gone, Luton scored the third goal of the match. Chong's deflected cross reached Morris, who headed beyond an onrushing Andre Onana to halve the deficit and become the first Luton player to score in three successive Premier League matches.
Three-time Grammy award-winning musician Harry Styles was in attendance at Kenilworth Road and seemed to enjoy the fast start to the match.
🤩 @Harry_Styles picked a good match to come to... 🍿 #LUTMUN pic.twitter.com/OPHowhMn7w
— Premier League (@premierleague) February 18, 2024
Luton pushed in search of an equaliser, and Casemiro and Harry Maguire were both given yellow cards for stopping attacks. Erik ten Hag substituted both players at half-time, while Shaw was forced off injured a few minutes before the break.
On the hour mark, Luton goalkeeper Kaminski saved Marcus Rashford's powerful shot, before Man Utd failed to score TWO big chances.
First, Bruno Fernandes got past Kaminski and had an open goal, but his shot was blocked by a lunging Albert Sambi Lokonga.
Then, Garnacho rounded Kaminski but delayed his shot, allowing a combination of the goalkeeper and Bell to get back and block his goalbound effort.
Hojlund was then denied a hat-trick when Kaminski spread himself to keep out his left-footed effort from just outside the six-yard box.
Luton continued to attack and in the fourth minute of added time, Barkley's header clipped the crossbar, as they fell to back-to-back defeats and remain in 17th place, a point above Everton, ahead of travelling to Liverpool on Wednesday.
A fourth consecutive win and fifth match without defeat takes Man Utd onto 44 points.
Club reports
| Position Pos | Club | Played Pl | GD | Points Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 |
Wolves
WOL
|
38 | -15 | 46 |
| 15 |
Everton
EVE
|
38 | -11 | 40 |
| 16 |
Brentford
BRE
|
38 | -9 | 39 |
| 17 |
Nott'm Forest
NFO
|
38 | -18 | 32 |
| 18 |
Luton
LUT
|
38 | -33 | 26 |
| 19 |
Burnley
BUR
|
38 | -37 | 24 |
| 20 |
Sheffield Utd
SHU
|
38 | -69 | 16 |
| Position Pos | Club | Played Pl | GD | Points Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 |
Aston Villa
AVL
|
38 | +15 | 68 |
| 5 |
Spurs
TOT
|
38 | +13 | 66 |
| 6 |
Chelsea
CHE
|
38 | +14 | 63 |
Next five Premier League fixtures
Key facts
Nine of Luton’s 14 defeats in the Premier League this season have been by a one-goal margin, with no side losing more games by a single goal than them in the competition this term (also nine for Nottingham Forest).
Only Manchester City and Arsenal (both 8) have won more Premier League away games than Manchester United (7) this season, with the Red Devils winning all three they’ve played on the road in the competition in 2024.
Luton have scored at least once in each of their last 12 games in the Premier League – the longest run by a promoted team since Burnley between December 2016 and March 2017 (also 12). Indeed, among current Premier League sides, only Spurs (37) are on a longer active scoring run in the competition.
Rasmus Højlund scored Manchester United's earliest ever Premier League away goal (37 seconds), as well as giving them their fastest ever 2-0 lead in an away Premier League game (7th minute).