Sheffield United's relegation rivals will bounce back from 'unfortunate' Man Utd defeat

The impact of Sheffield United's dispiriting home defeat against Brighton could have been doubled had relegation rivals Luton Town secured any reward for their determined display against Champions League-chasing Manchester United.

Chris Wilder's side kicked off Sunday with high hopes of extending Brighton's poor away form and kickstarting their own push to escape the Premier League relegation zone - but were unable to land a punch on the Seagulls as the visitors romped to a 5-0 win against a Blades side reduced to ten men by Mason Holgate's 13th minute red card.

That meant a nervous wait to see whether Luton, who occupied 17th place in the table ahead of their meeting with the Red Devils, would push the Blades further towards relegation by taking anything from their own fixture on Sunday afternoon. Things looked to be working against the Hatters as Rasmus Hojlund put the visitors two goals up inside the opening seven minutes at Kenilworth Road. Carlton Morris got Luton back into the game on the quarter-hour mark and then came within inches of securing a point when Ross Barkley clipped the top of the crossbar with a header deep in second-half stoppage time.

As it stands, Rob Edwards' men lie just one point and one place above the drop zone - but they are also seven points clear of the Blades. With a tough looking trip to title contenders Liverpool lying in wait in midweek, Hatters captain Tom Lockyer admitted his side can bounce back from the defeat, despite conceding they face 'a tough run of games' over the coming weeks.

He told Sky Sports: “It’s unfortunate with the header at the end because it would have been nice to see that one nestle in the top corner.  It wasn’t to be and if we are being truthful, United are probably deserved winners today because there were plenty of times they hit us on the counter-attack  I hope they are right.  Obviously it’s going to be difficult, we’ve got a tough run of games coming up, this being the first of them but we will look to bounce back from this.”

Former Luton defender Curtis Davies praised his old club for their performance against an in-form Manchester United side and believes the Hatters managed to turn the tables on Erik ten Hag's men for large parts of the defeat.

He said: “The way they’ve played today, they’ve been brilliant.  I think it was just a fine margin of trying to get that last pass, get that shot away, they were very much well in the game today.  But at the same time, you look at the chances Man United had on the break, Man United played like Luton today, it was Luton that were the aggressor and Man United played on the counter-attack and I think they had their keeper to thank for keeping them in the game.”