Luton Town 1-2 Manchester United: Premier League – as it happened | Premier League

The match report is in from our man at Kenilworth Road, Nick Ames. That’s my cue to go and have a lie-down in a darkened room. Thanks for your company, correspondence and patience. I should be saying see you tomorrow for the fifth day of the Test match, but something went slightly awry with England, who lost by 434 runs. Manchester United are sometimes like that too, though not today. I’ll be back on Friday for the next Test. Do drop by tomorrow, when Rob Smyth will be bringing you Everton v Crystal Palace.

Hojlund is asked if the deflection off his chest that brought the second goal. was intentional. You may be able to guess the answer. “One hundred per cent! … Just flick it in. I was surprised, that was such a good goal, to be fair… At the moment, I have a lot of conference, so it goes in.”

Jamie Redknapp asks if he ever doubted himself when he failed to score in his first 14 Premier League games. “No, I never doubted myself, though of course you can be a little bit down when you don’t score… I always believed in myself, I knew it was a matter of time – learning [about] my team mates, getting the understanding, where to position myself with the right-back, the left-back, Rashy, Garna, Bruno.”

Rasmus Hojlund, not content with grabbing the headlines, is ambling over to join the Sky pundits. Something he may one day do permanently, as he’s a fluent talker. “A good beginning,” he says. “Two good and fast goals. Then we drop off a little bit, we get unfocused, they get one back and then we know with this crowd and this pitch, 2-1 is always a dangerous result. Then we create a lot of chances in the second half – we just need to score, a bit annoyed about that.”

“Styles is in the stands?” says Peter Oh. I feel a quip coming on. “United may be enjoying a run of good form, but the club is still going in One Direction.” Good line! But the thing about this United side is that they’re going in more than one direction at once.

This game could easily have been another of Luton’s 4-4s. United’s forwards were clean through at least three times, and Luton’s had umpteen shots (22) without getting enough on target (four). There was too much happening to allow me to open the mail, so if you’ve written in, I can only apologise on behalf of the Premier League. It’s too much fun.

Both teams stay put in the table, as they had to. United are now only three points below the top five, with 44 from 25 games. They have 14 wins, the same as Spurs, who stay above them on the strength of three more draws. Luton, who have now lost 14 times, miss the chance to breathe down the necks of Palace, but they’re still one point clear of Everton and the bottom three.

The home fans have been just as admirable as their team. “We’re staying up,” they chant, as the players applaud them.

So United secure their fourth league win in a row. But secure is not the word… After racing out of the blocks, United faded badly, then revived in the second half. They ended up playing better without several senior players – Shaw, Casemiro, Maguire – than they had for half an hour with them. Luton were admirably spirited, but just not clinical enough.

FULL TIME! Luton 1-2 Man United

Barkley hits the bar!

90+3 min Fernandes tries a long shot, much to the chagrin of Gary Neville. Luton surge forward and win one last corner. They should get one more chance.

90+3 min United counter yet again. Garnacho to Fernandes and back to Garnacho, who can only win a corner from a tight angle.

90+2 min Corner to Luton, but this makeshift United defence is tall. Headed away for another corner.

90 min There will be four more minutes. The home fans were expecting at least eight.

89 min Rashford sends Garnacho away, and suddenly United’s new centre-forward is Jonny Evans. Garnacho can’t quite find him, perhaps because he can’t quite believe his eyes.

88 min Rashford wins a free kick. Fernandez takes his time, then lofts it towards Varane, who commits a foul. Somehow the ball comes to Fernandes again, in a great position at inside-right, but his shot goes skimming past the far post.

86 min It doesn’t take much to get Erik ten Hag worried when United are a goal up. He takes off Hojlund and sends on Sofyan Amrabat to shore up the midfield. That probably means Rashford going up front, though the forwards have been interchangeable on the counter for some time.

85 min Garnacho races upfield and takes far too long to pass to Rashford, allowing Luton to clear. Up the other end, Luton have a long shot.

84 min Townsend saunters infield from the right and wins a corner. Rob Edwards sent on another sub just now, Berry for Doughty.

83 min The camera finds Harry Styles, paying close attention, next to Mick Harford. A contrast in Styles.

81 min Townsend wriggles away from Lindelof, though it comes to nothing. Lindelof, nobody’s idea of a left-back, gets a booking for a foul on Townsend just before that.

80 min The chance-fest continues as Varane sends McTominay through, but he commits a foul in the ensuing tangle.

79 min Rashford races down the right and finds Garnacho, who cuts back for Hojlund. His shot is not up to his recent high standards and Kaminski saves.

76 min The free kick is curled in by Doughty, headed away by United, but then there’s a shot from Osho near the penalty spot, defused by Varane and Fernandes with a pair of desperate blocks.

74 min There are more attacks in this match than there is time to describe them. A few minutes ago Mainoo went on a slalom, much like at Molineux, without the resulting shot. Now he’s going in the book for what may have been a very good sliding tackle.

73 min A Luton attack promises much but delivers nothing as Doughty’s cross is overhit.

71 min Fine save by Kaminski! From Fernandes’ free kick, which was shaping to dip inside Kaminski’s right-hand post.

71 min United escape and Rashford bears down on Townsend, who responds with a foul. An early yellow for him.

70 min Luton enjoy some advanced possession for the first time in this half. United’s defending is scrappy but effective.

69 min Two subs for Luton: Woodrow off, Townsend on, and more surprisingly Chong off, Clark on.

66 min Big, big chance for Garnacho! Sent clean through by a long ball from Rashford, he went this way, that way, and eventually nowhere. He hides his face in his hands.

65 min Chance for Ogbene! Long range, firm hit, but straight at Onana.

63 min Another shot from Garnacho, spinning onto his left foot and aiming too high. United are playing so much better now, partly because Kobbie Mainoo is playing better. In the first half he kept being exposed by Chong, his fellow United alumnus. Since moving back to replace Casemiro, Mainoo has been far more commanding.

61 min Chance for Garnacho! Fernandes drills a corner to him on the edge of the box. If he could hit it first time, he might well be celebrating now, but he has to take a touch and his shot is straight at Kaminski.

60 min Big chance for Fernandes! United put together a superb counter as Hojlund holds the ball up and turns it round the corner to Garnacho. Fernandes is through, round the keeper, placing his shot – only to be stopped by a magnificent sliding block from Lokonga.

60 min Luton’s turn to get forward, after some neat passing in midfield. The ball falls to Barkley, whose attempted screamer is too high.

58 min United pour forward again. McTominay to Hojlund to Rashford to Fernandes, who scuffs his shot.