Manchester United picked up their fourth Premier League win in a row, holding off a valiant Luton Town comeback attempt to win 2-1 at Kenilworth Road on Matchday 25. This reduced the gap to the top four to just five points.
The Red Devils hadn’t visited Kenilworth Road since 1992, but from the very first minute, the home fans began to rue the arrival of that day. A mistimed attempt by Amari’i Bell to deal with a high cross left Rasmus Højlund face-to-face with goal, allowing the Dane to dribble past Thomas Kaminski and score after 37 seconds – the fastest away goal in Manchester United’s history.
Højlund also made history as the youngest player to score in six consecutive matches in the competition. With confidence running high, he added to his tally in the seventh minute, deftly redirecting Alejandro Garnacho’s shot into the far corner of the net.
In a harrowing first ten minutes, Rob Edwards’ players were closer to attack than defense, but, encouraged by a fervent atmosphere at Kenilworth Road, the Hatters quickly got back on their feet and put United under pressure. The hosts reduced the deficit in the fifteenth minute, somewhat fortuitously, with Carlton Morris scoring with a header for the third game in a row, following a rebound from Ross Barkley’s shot.
Luton dominated the game and continued to do so until half-time, but were unable to level the score. Cauley Woodrow, Alfie Doughty and Morris all had great chances go begging, while Woodrow and Casemiro narrowly escaped red cards after harsh fouls, even after they had already been cautioned.
Erik ten Hag breathed a sigh of relief at half-time, seeing his team lose control of possession in an incredibly sloppy last half hour. The Dutch coach also lost left-back Luke Shaw to injury before the break, and expressed his dissatisfaction with the team’s performance by substituting Casemiro and Harry Maguire at the start of the second half. Despite their defensive frailties, Manchester United at least regained their threat on the counter-attack, with Kaminski making an impressive save from Marcus Rashford’s shot, before Albert Sambi Lokonga heroically denied Bruno Fernandes with an open goal.
The visitors continued to miss chances to extend their two-goal lead, with Garnacho the latest to fail, after being released by Rashford into great space but failing to finish accurately.
Højlund and Bruno Fernandes also had chances to add to the lead, but the missed shots made no difference as Manchester United held on to secure their fifth consecutive away win for the first time since October 2020.
