Ten Hag hails Hojlund as striker’s brace sinks Luton
Erik ten Hag praised the character of Rasmus Hojlund after the 21-year-old scored twice in the first seven minutes to help Manchester United to a 2-1 Premier League win over Luton at Kenilworth Road.
After a slow beginning to his career at old trafford, the strike r–signed from Atalanta for £72million–hasnowscoredin six consecutive games to make it 13 goals in his first 30 outings for United, including seven in 20 in the league.
United made the perfect start against Rob Edwards’ side, taking the lead inside a minute when Amari’i Bell’s misjudged pass was latched onto by Hojlund, the Dane racing through and carrying the ball around goalkeeper Thomas Kaminski before rolling it into the empty goal.
And in no time the advantage was doubled, Hojlund again on target as he deflected Alejandro Garnacho’s effort from outside the box inside the near post with his chest.
Luton hit back and halved the arrears in the 14th minute. Former United player Tahith Chong collected the ball from Alfie Doughty and hit a shot that deflected up and into the path of Carlton Morris, who got his head to the ball ahead of Andre Onana to make it 2-1.
United stretched their winning run in the league to four games and Ten Hag picked out Hojlund for praise.
“We are very happy with our recruitment, that we recruited the right character because he can perform under stress,” said Ten Hag. “And when things go against him like in the first half of the season, he has the abilities to have a strong character, to be resilient, to be determined and score goals and that is what we saw when we scouted him.”
Brighton strengthened their top-six Premier League hopes with a 5-0 win over 10-man Sheffield United at Bramall Lane.
Goals from Facundo Buonanotte and Danny Welbeck, Simon Adingra’s double and a Jack Robinson own goal ensured the Seagulls kept the pressure on sixth-placed manchester United.
Their task was made easier by Blades defender Mason Holgate’s 13th-minute red card for a reckless thigh-high challenge on Kaoru Mitoma, with the VA R advising refereewell to upgrade an initial yellow card to red.