Player ratings as Hojlund brace inspires another win

A brace from Rasmus Hojlund was enough for Manchester United to eke out a win over a spirited Luton Town at Kenilworth Road.

Hojlund’s sixth and seventh goals in his last six Premier League appearances gave the Red Devils a 2-0 lead inside the opening six minutes, however, Carlton Morris was able to reduce the arrears before the quarter-hour mark.

Momentum in the game to’d and fro’d thereafter, with both sides spurning good chances, and Man Utd were ultimately able to hold on for their fourth Premier League win in a row.

How the game unfolded

Almost immediately from kick-off, a raucous Kenilworth Road crowd were silenced by Rasmus Hojlund. The Dane prodded home his sixth goal in six consecutive games for Man Utd by pouncing on a mistake from Amari’i Bell at the back. Bell’s panicked touch was lapped up by Hojlund who then raced into the box and side-footed casually past Thomas Kaminski in the Luton goal.

It didn’t too long for Hojlund to make it seven goals in his last six games, as in the seventh minute he bagged another to make it 2-0. The young forward was in the right place at the right time to beautifully chest Alejandro Garnacho’s volleyed effort into the far corner of the net.

Despite being thoroughly outplayed in the opening exchanges, Luton were handed a lifeline in the game via a fortunate deflection in the 14th minute. A swivelling shot from ex-Man Utd man Tahith Chong flicked off the heel of Harry Maguire and directly into the path of Morris on the right of the penalty area, with the striker subsequently heading home.

That moment of fortune seemed to buoy the home side, who began to wrestle control of the game off of Man Utd thereafter in the first half. Morris led a fierce press inside the opposition half to turn the momentum of the game, with said press resulting in the forward almost making it 2-2 before half-time – firing just wide of the post with an effort from outside of the box.

Although heading into the interval one goal to the good, the Red Devils probably should’ve been one man down too. Having been booked for a silly challenge early in the game, Casemiro was egregiously not shown a second booking late in the half when he needlessly chopped Ross Barkley down after a loose first touch.

Man Utd re-found their mojo at the start of the second half thanks to the introduction of Scott McTominay for the woefully underperforming Casemiro during the interval. The visitors came close to making it 3-1 on a few occasions, with Bruno Fernandes…