Victor Lindelof scored the winning goal as Manchester United narrowly beat Luton 1-0 at Old Trafford to ease pressure on under-fire boss Erik ten Hag
United created numerous chances as they dominated the game before Lindelof finally broke the deadlock in the 59th minute. The Swede smashed home from 16 yards after Luton failed to clear Marcus Rashford’s cross.
Victory was like a breath of fresh air for United, who have lost nine of their last 18 games in all competitions, have been eliminated from the League Cup and are struggling in the Champions League after a 4-3 loss at Copenhagen on Wednesday.
Relief for beleaguered United fans came from an unexpected source as Lindelof scored his first goal in nearly three years.
The English giants may be at risk of an early exit from the Champions League, but they have now won four of their last five in the Premier League.
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All of those victories have been by a single goal and the manner of victory was again far from convincing for United in the Hatters’ first trip to Old Trafford since 1991.
Rasmus Hojlund scored twice on his return to Denmark in midweek to take his tally to five goals in four Champions League games.
However, he is still yet to net in the Premier League. The £64 million signing missed two big chances to break his duck.
Hojlund’s best piece of play then teed up Alejandro Garnacho, who failed to beat Thomas Kaminski when clean through on goal.
United had to wait until just before the hour mark to make the breakthrough.
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Rashford’s low cross was deflected back into the path of Lindelof, who made no mistake from 10 yards out.
Rashford was among those guilty of wasting opportunities to add to United’s lead.
The Dutch tactician was pleased with the result and praised his team for the three points.
“It is a good day. We needed the win and we got it but we could make life easier by scoring early on and getting a second,” he told BBC Match of the Day.
“We created the chances but we didn’t score apart from one. I am happy with that and I am happy with the clean sheet. We had many chances before halftime and you should net one of them.”
