LONDON: Manchester United eased the pressure on under-fire boss Erik ten Hag with a nervy 1-0 win against Luton Town, while Premier League title challengers Tottenham Hotspur crashed to an agonising 2-1 defeat at Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday.

Rocked by Wednesday’s devastating Champions Lea­gue group stage loss in Copenhagen — the latest embarrassment in a season of low moments — United gave Ten Hag some much-needed breathing space thanks to Victor Lindelof’s second-half winner.

United had suffered five defeats in their previous 10 home games this season, their worst start to a campaign at Old Trafford since 1930-31 when they also lost five of 10 and were relegated from the top flight.

They were also reeling from three losses in their last four games in all competitions as the heat was turned up on Ten Hag.

Against that depressing backdrop, and with the latest ‘Glazers out’ protests from fans outside Old Trafford bef­ore kick-off, struggling Luton’s first visit to United since 1991 was well-timed for Ten Hag and his troubled team.

United made their pressure count in the 59th minute as Bruno Fernandes’ corner was cleared to Marcus Rashford, whose cross fell kindly for Lindelof to lash home.

That was enough to lift United to sixth place, while Luton remain one place above the relegation zone.

Wolves’ stunning late show denied Tottenham the chance to return to the top of the table as a pair of stoppage-time goals sealed a dramatic win at Molineux.

Brennan Johnson’s first goal for Tottenham since his move from Nottingham Forest put Ange Postecoglou’s side ahead in the third minute.

Johnson converted Pedro Porro’s cross with a clinical close-range strike.

But Wolves dominated after that and earned a memorable victory thanks to the incredible finale.

Pablo Sarabia finally bag­ged the equaliser in the first minute of stoppage time when he smashed past Guglielmo Vica­rio from Matheus Cunha’s pass.

Missing injured stars James Maddison and Micky van de Ven, Tottenham were well below their best and Mario Lemina made them pay in the 97th minute, meeting Sarabia’s cross with a cool finish from 12 yards.

After starting the season on a 10-game unbeaten run, it was Tottenham’s second successive defeat after Monday’s 4-1 loss against Chelsea when they had two players sent off.

“Wolves are always going to come on strong and we ran out of legs at the end,” Postecoglou said. “It is understandable, a lot of those guys haven’t pla­yed. They scored a couple of good goals. It’s a hard one to take.”

Arsenal took advantage of Tottenham’s stumble as they beat Burnley 3-1 to move one point above their north London rivals into second place.

Mikel Arteta’s team, beaten at Newcastle United last weekend, took the lead on the stroke of half-time.

Bukayo Saka headed across goal for Leandro Trossard to bundle home Arsenal’s 1,000th goal at the Emirates Stadium since their move from Highbury in 2006.

Burnley levelled in the 54th minute when Josh Brownhill fired home via a deflection off Arsenal defender Gabriel.

But William Saliba’s close-range header three minutes later put Arsenal back in control and Oleksandr Zinchenko volleyed the Gunners’ third in the 74th minute.

Arsenal were reduced to 10 men in the 83rd minute when Fabio Vieira was shown a straight red card after catching Brownhill on the knee.

Everton climbed away from the relegation zone with a 3-2 win at Crystal Palace.

Sean Dyche’s side took the lead in the first minute when Vitaliy Mykolenko thumped a header past Sam Johnstone from Jack Harrison’s cross.

Palace equalised four minutes later when Eberechi Eze was fouled by Jarrad Bran­thwaite, conceding a penalty that the forward took himself and dispatched with ease.

Abdoulaye Doucoure rest­ored Everton’s advantage in the 49th minute and although Odsonne Edouard levelled in the 73rd minute, Idrissa Gueye surged clear to win it for the visitors with five minutes left.

Published in Dawn, November 12th, 2023