Rasmus Hojlund’s historic brace earned Manchester United a 2-1 win at Luton Town that moves them just three points behind fifth-placed Tottenham Hotspur.
Hojlund scored twice in the opening seven minutes to become the youngest player in Premier League history to net in six consecutive matches.
Carlton Morris pulled a goal back for Luton, for whom Ross Barkley hit the crossbar in the last minute of second-half stoppage time.
Luton made two changes to their starting XI, with former Man Utd players Tahith Chong and Teden Mengi recalled, however the Hatters suffered a blow in the warm-up as Elijah Adebayo sustained an injury and Cauley Woodrow was called up to make his first Premier League start for 10 years.
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Man Utd named the same side that won at Aston Villa last time out, with Luke Shaw passed fit. It was the first time they started with the same XI for consecutive matches since the first two fixtures of the season.
Hojlund gave Man Utd a dream start, scoring their fastest goal in the Premier League this season, after just 37 seconds.
The Danish striker intercepted Amari’i Bell’s loose pass and rounded goalkeeper Thomas Kaminski to score. Aged 21 years and 14 days, he broke Joe Willock’s record (21y 272d) for youngest player to net in six successive appearances.
In the seventh minute, Hojlund made it seven goals in his last six appearances. A Shaw corner found its way to Alejandro Garnacho, whose effort fell for Hojlund to convert in from close range.
With just 14 minutes gone, Luton scored the third goal of the match. Chong’s deflected cross reached Morris, who headed beyond an onrushing Andre Onana to halve the deficit and become the first Luton player to score in three successive Premier League matches.
Luton pushed in search of an equaliser, and Casemiro and Harry Maguire were both given yellow cards for stopping attacks. Erik ten Hag substituted both players at half-time, while Shaw was forced off injured a few minutes before the break.
On the hour mark, Luton goalkeeper Kaminski saved Marcus Rashford’s powerful shot, before Man Utd failed to score two big chances.
First, Bruno Fernandes got past Kaminski and had an open goal, but his shot from outside the box was blocked by a lunging Albert Sambi Lokonga.
Then, Alejandro Garnacho rounded Kaminski but delayed his shot, allowing a combination of the goalkeeper and Bell to get back and block his goalbound effort.
Hojlund was then denied a hat-trick when Kaminski spread himself to keep out his left-footed effort from just outside the six-yard box.
Luton continued to attack and in the fourth minute of added time, Barkley’s header clipped the crossbar, as they fell to back-to-back defeats and remain in 17th place, a point above Everton, ahead of travelling to Liverpool on Wednesday.
A fourth consecutive win and fifth match without defeat takes Man Utd onto 44 points.
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