Luton Town 1 Man Utd 2
Luton Town welcomed Man Utd to Kenilworth Road, hoping to cause an upset to give themselves some breathing space from the bottom three. At times this season, The Hatters’ fighting spirit has seen them show glimpses of a team capable of sealing a second term in the top-flight.
One of the biggest lessons newly promoted teams learn quickly about the Premier League is that any slight mistake is more often than not punished. Casemiro booted the ball clear from the edge of his own box, Bell looked to pass it back to Kaminski but just presented it to Hojlund.
The Danish striker, now full of confidence, ran through on goal. He took it around the Luton keeper and slotted the ball into the back of the net. With less than a minute played, The Hatters had made the worst possible start to this game.
Erik ten Hag’s side continued to press and forced a number of corners. As the ball was crossed in, it was half-cleared to the edge of the box. Garnacho struck the ball on the volley and it seemed to take a deflection and went into the opposite corner of the goal.
Credit: @ManUtd
Only on seeing the replay was it evident that Hojlund had deftly turned his chest to divert the wayward shot into the goal. Great invention by the Red Devils’ striker, after such a drought at the start his career, he could now not stop scoring.
Rob Edwards looked bemused on the touchline, with only seven minutes played, his side were already two goals down. He kept a brave face on, confident that his side had the minerals to turn this game around still. Even the most ardent Luton fan may have struggled to have such faith.
The Hatters started to get a foothold in the game and start creating some promising attacks. As Doughty crossed, Chong swivelled and shot but his effort took a massive deflection. It looped up to the back post and Morris got there before Onana to head home.
Kenilworth Road erupted and suddenly we had a game on our hands again. Casemiro was booked for a lazy foul on Morris on the halfway line. Moments later he put a heavy challenge in on Barkley, getting nowhere near the ball.
Incredibly, the referee did not even contemplate going into his pocket. The replay showed he caught the Luton player and in any normal situation, it would have warranted a yellow card. It seemed the referee was factoring in that he would have to send the Brazilian off.
At times, refereeing in the Premier League mimics the British justice system perfectly. Despite stringent laws in place, no two people receive the same penalty for the same crime. Some people are let off, others feel the full brunt of the powers that be.
Credit: @ManUtd
Maguire committed a textbook ‘taking one for the team’ foul, preventing the player a goalscoring opportunity. He was shown a yellow card but it was the sort of challenge that is prompting crazy ideas of sin bins and blue cards.
The Man Utd manager did the sensible thing at half time and hauled off both Maguire and Casemiro before the referee made that decision for him. After the interval the game opened up into a real end to end game, a great watch for all.
Rashford came forward, cutting in from the right wing, he got a shot away with his left foot which Kaminski got down well to parry and collect the ball at the second time of asking. At this point the visitors knew that another goal would kill this game off.
As a Luton Town attack broke down, Man Utd countered with pace. Garnacho threaded the ball through for Fernandes who took the ball around Kaminski. Just as he was pulling the trigger to slot the ball home, a perfectly-timed sliding tackle blocked his shot and saved a certain goal.
Garnacho then found himself clean through on goal and he too looked to round the keeper. After doing so, he dwelled on the ball too long, cutting back inside and having his eventual shot blocked by the defender. Another gilt-edged chance wasted.
The visitors almost paid the ultimate price deep into stoppage time as Berry whipped in a corner. Barkley met it with a header which clipped the top of the crossbar as it went over with Onana at full-stretch but nowhere near it.
Man Utd held on for all three points but Luton Town will feel they created enough chances to get so much more out of this game. There is no arguing that ten Hag’s side had the more clean-cut opportunities but they rode their luck also in this game.
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