21-year-old Danish striker Rasmus Højlund has been heavily criticised during the early stages of his Manchester United since joining the 13-time English Premier League winners from Atalanta BC of the Italian Serie A. Nevertheless, the young forward has completely overturned his tenure at the Red Devils to the better end, offering a stream of goals and assists in the new calendar year of 2024. Just yesterday, the Dane Rasmus Højlund was influential for Erik ten Hag’s men when they travelled to Kenilworth Road to be hosted by Luton Town, scoring an early brace to give United their fifth straight win in all competitions as a result.
Rasmus Højlund’s Early Brace Sufficient for Another Three Points for United
United were unbeaten in six consecutive games in all competitions prior to their Luton Town matchup in the English top-flight football, beating Wigan Athletic in the FA Cup Third Round, drawing Tottenham Hotspur in the league, before four victories against Newport County, Wolverhampton Wanderers, West Ham United and Aston Villa in the domestic cup and league competitions respectively. The home team at Kenilworth Road, on the other hand, have not been able to win any games in the month of February 2024 thus far.
All three goals of this 2-1 victory by Rasmus Højlund’s Manchester United happened in the first 14 minutes of the game, with the Danish striker Rasmus Højlund netting a couple of goals within the initial seven minutes in the opening half and Carlton Morris pulling one back before the first quarter-hour. Rasmus Højlund drew first blood for ten Hag’s side as early as the team’s first attack, when Amari’i Bell failed to control the ball off Casemiro’s clearance, allowing Rasmus Højlund to intercept it and charge into the penalty box. The Denmark footballer then rounded the goalkeeper Thomas Kaminski for the opening goal of the game.
Not long after the opener in this league encounter, a Luke Shaw corner from the left flank was ricocheted to Alejandro Garnacho, who emphatically hit a volley towards the Luton Town goal. To the home team’s dismay, the Argentine’s incredible effort took a huge deflection off Rasmus Højlund’s chest, before ending in the back of the net at the bottom left corner. There were claims that Rasmus Højlund was offside during the offensive play, but the replay showed otherwise, meaning United were up by a two-goal advantage thanks to Rasmus Højlund’s couple of goals.
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Luton Unable to Find the Equaliser
In the 14th minute of the game, former academy graduate at Manchester United Tahith Chong received the ball inside the dangerous zone, followed by the Dutchman’s shot that was blocked by the Red Devils defence. The ball fell for Morris, who then headed it into the goal before any United players could get a touch of it.
Luton Town did try to find the equaliser in the rest of the game, but it was ten Hag’s side who bagged all three points in this away league fixture, capturing their sixth win in their recent seven matches in all competitions. The 2-1 loss also made Rob Edwards’s side only a single point above the relegation zone with 14 matches remaining in the 2023/2024 English Premier League Season.
Dutch manager ten Hag could not be any prouder of Rasmus Højlund’s performance against Luton, which was translated into a brace, “We are very happy with our recruitment, that we recruited the right character because he can perform under stress. 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. Of course, he needed some support because it’s not so easy when you’re so young but, in general, he kept calm and you see his abilities. In the start he didn’t have so much luck.”
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Man Utd go within five points of the top four 👏 #LUTMUN pic.twitter.com/hyWfJ9Hfy3
— Premier League (@premierleague) February 18, 2024
Rasmus Højlund: Youngest Player to Score in Six Consecutive Premier League Games
It is safe to say that Rasmus Højlund is currently having the best form of his professional senior career in football, especially in a Manchester United jersey. Having already surpassed his best goal scoring season set last year (10 goals in 34 matches in all competitions for Atalanta BC), Rasmus Højlund’s double versus Luton Town last night put him into the rank of the youngest player to score in six successful matches in the English Premier League. At 21 years 14 days old, Rasmus Højlund overtook Joe Willock’s previous record set when he was 21 years 272 days old, after the midfielder offered consistent scoring showings for Newcastle United a few years ago.
In addition to snatching the title of the youngest footballer to score in six straight English top-flight football matches, Rasmus Højlund’s couple of goals yesterday also brought his season tally in 2023/2024 to 13 goals and two assists in 30 games played in all competitions. All eyes will be on him to continue to deliver in order to break the 20-goal mark by the end of the season, with United having 13 more matches in the Premier League as well as an extended run in FA Cup, the oldest football competition in the world.
Ten Hag’s and Rasmus Højlund’s Manchester United have Fulham and Nottingham Forest on the cards in the domestic league and cup competitions in the remainder of February 2024, before the intriguing Manchester Derby set to take centre stage in the first weekend of March 2024. Make sure you stay tuned to our website at https://www.wclivestream.net/ for all the latest happenings of the football world or even subscribe to AsiaSport to catch the 192nd Manchester Derby and other football matches live at the comfort of your whereabouts.
