Hojlund’s brace helps Man United down battling Luton
Luton, England - Rasmus Hojlund’s early double proved enough to secure Manchester United an absorbing 2-1 Premier League victory at Luton Town on Sunday and push them closer to the battle for the top four.
Danish striker Hojlund pounced on a defensive error to give United the lead after 37 seconds and then made it 2-0 with only seven minutes on the clock to put his side in control.
Relegation battlers Luton dusted themselves down though and responded impressively with Carlton Morris’s brave header halving the deficit in the 14th minute.
The only surprise in a wideopen game was that there were no more goals as both sides carved out good chances.
Sixth-placed United were guilty of wasting several giltedged opportunities in the second half while Luton’s Ross Barkley headed against the crossbar in stoppage time.
United’s fourth successive league win put them on 44 points from 25 games, five points behind Aston Villa who are fourth.
‘We must score more’
United must become more clinical in front of goal and put teams to the sword, said manager Erik ten Hag.
The Dutchman told reporters United had been “fragile” at times after failing to kill the game off.
“We missed some really massive chances and we should have scored and we know that,” he added.
“On the other hand, Luton Town have lost games this season, but only two times by more than two, so it is not easy here.
“The way we started was perfect and that’s the way we want to do it, it was a perfect game plan but the only thing we didn’t do is be more clinical in front of goal. “We must score more goals because today we could have easily scored five goals.”