The stats behind Rasmus Hojlund's record-breaking goal streak for Man Utd
With his brace against Luton Town on Sunday afternoon, Manchester United striker Rasmus Hojlund became the youngest-ever player to score in six successive Premier League matches. Here, we take a look at the stats behind the Denmark international’s sensational goalscoring form.
Up until Boxing Day, Rasmus Hojlund had failed to find the net the Premier League, but the winning goal against Aston Villa that evening kick-started an impressive scoring run from the 21-year-old, who has now been involved in more Premier League goals than any other player in 2024 (8).
Hojlund’s struggles pre-Christmas were not for want of trying though. The 21-year-old was firing in the Champions League group stage, and was taking, on average 1.3 shots per match in the Premier League - perhaps low for a striker - but since finding the net against Aston Villa, that figure has only climbed to 1.8.
Though it may go without saying, the starkest change in the Hojlund we saw before Christmas and that which we are witnessing now is the quality of his shots. In the 14 matches he played without finding the net, the Dane fired off a total of 18 shots, with just seven of those on target. In the six matches since, Hojlund has found the target with nine of the 11 shots he has taken, and the net with seven of them, returning a remarkable conversion rate of 63.6% and shot accuracy of 81.8%.
Also crucial to his form is the relationships he has built with fellow attackers Alejandro Garnacho and Marcus Rashford. Manchester United’s impressive form of late has come about since Erik ten Hag opted to take former Ajax winger Antony out of the side and assemble the aforementioned front three, all of whom have been among the goals in recent weeks. While he may be the club’s leading scorer this calendar year, Hojlund has also started to add assists to his game, and both that he has provided so far have been for Marcus Rashford goals.
Before Boxing Day, Hojlund was making just 0.8 key passes per game in the Premier League, perhaps indicative of him sharing the forward line with players he was still getting accustomed to playing with. But since then, the 21-year-old has been providing, on average, 1.8 key passes per game. An increase of more than one per game, particularly for a striker, is quite something, and illustrates just how much more he is starting to be brought into United’s general play.
Further to this, Hojlund’s improvement in general play can be depicted by his average WhoScored rating before and after Christmas. Prior to finding the net for the first time, the Dane’s average rating was 6.21, which would have made him one of the 30 lowest rated players in the Premier League of those to have made 10 or more appearances. Since then, though, the Denmark international’s rating has jumped up to an average of 7.90 per match, an increase of more than 25%. Though his red-hot scoring streak may be responsible for much of that increase, it is evident from watching him that Hojlund’s confidence, in every action, has improved massively.
The Rasmus Hojlund of recent weeks has looked every bit the one Manchester United fans will have hoped for when the club parted with around £65m for his signature, and should he continue his form for the remainder of the season, we could be looking at one of the Premier League’s most clinical and deadly strikers.
And as a reminder, he turned 21 just two weeks ago. It would certainly be safe to say that the expectations placed on him in the first half of the season were unrealistic, but having seemingly settled in; he now looks to be surpassing them.
