Sheffield: An alleged racist comment was made by a fan toward Luton player Carlton Morris during his team’s Premier League match against Sheffield United.
Luton manager Rob Edwards said the police had talked to Morris after the game at Bramall Lane, which Luton won 3-2. Liverpool, meanwhile, returned to the top of the table with a 2-0 win at Burnley while Manchester United stunned Aston Villa 3-2 after trailing by two goals early.
“There was an alleged racist comment, the police are dealing with that, they have spoken to Carlton and got his take on it, so it is with them now, I have no more comment on it,” the Luton manager said. “He is all right — he was, at the time, pretty angry but he seems fine now.”
Morris came on as a 71st-minute substitute and created two chances that led to own goals in his team’s win.
The match was the first in the Premier League in 15 years to be officiated by a black referee. Sam Allison took charge of the game.
He spoke to both managers following the incident, Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder said.
Luton’s Carlton Morris, centre, speaks with referee Sam Allison as both managers look on.Credit: PA
“There was a comment that was made and the referee came over to speak to me and Rob from a racial point of view, which is obviously not great if found to be the case,” he said.
At Turf Moor, Darwin Nunez ended a 12-game scoring drought to help Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool overtake Arsenal in the standings.
Liverpool moved two points clear of second-place Arsenal, who have a game in hand against West Ham on Thursday (Friday 7.15am AEDT).
Nunez curled a shot from distance beyond Burnley goalkeeper James Trafford in the sixth minute at Turf Moor, having failed to find the back of the net for his club since November 1.
Diogo Jota celebrates the goal which capped Liverpool’s return to the Premier League summit.Credit: Getty
Having drawn back-to-back league games against Manchester United and Arsenal, Liverpool failed to make the most of their dominance with two goals disallowed and Mohamed Salah hitting the bar.
Substitute Diogo Jota eventually ended any concerns of a Burnley equaliser with a goal in the 90th.
“We’ve created a lot of chances recently and haven’t used an awful lot of them but in the end it’s about performing,” Klopp said. “We’ve played four games in 10 days and you just have to get through it.”
At Old Trafford, Rasmus Hojlund’s first Premier League goal secured victory for Manchester United over Aston Villa after Alejandro Garnacho had scored a brace to claw their way back from two goals down in a breathless encounter.
Rasmus Hojlund (centre) celebrates the goal that completed United’s remarkable comeback against Aston Villa.Credit: PA
Erik ten Hag’s team, who had fans booing them off the Old Trafford pitch at half-time, climbed to sixth in the standings on 31 points, while Villa, who lost for the first time in 11 games in all competitions, are third with 39.
After 1027 minutes, Hojlund finally ended his league goal drought in the 82nd when a United corner bounced off John McGinn’s knee and fell to the Dane. The 20-year-old swiped it in off the post and a few minutes later left the game to a standing ovation.
“It has been a while (waiting), but yes I am very happy. I am the happiest man alive right now,” Hojlund told Amazon Prime. “You can see from the celebrations as well. We believed in ourselves until the very end and got the win today.”
McGinn scored for Villa in the 21st minute from a long free kick that sailed past several players and into the bottom left corner. Leander Dendoncker doubled their lead five minutes later from close range when an unmarked Clement Lenglet headed a corner kick back across goal.
Chris Wood’s hat-trick continued his former club Newcastle’s barren run.Credit: Getty
United appeared headed for their ninth defeat in 19 league games before Garnacho netted his first in the 59th minute with a fierce shot from the centre of the box. He equalised for the hosts in the 71st after a give-and-go with Bruno Fernandes before Hojlund scored the winner.
“It is a great feeling. We are Manchester United. We were two-nil down, but we never give up, and it was a great comeback from the team,” Garnacho said.
Elsewhere, Chris Wood came back to haunt Newcastle and hand Nuno Espirito Santo his first win as Nottingham Forest manager.
Wood, who joined Newcastle in January 2022 and was sold to Forest 18 months later, struck a hat-trick in his team’s 3-1 win at St. James’ Park.
“I’m just happy to stick them away. That’s what I’m here to do and I’m just happy I could,” the striker said.
Wood was one of Newcastle’s first signings after the club was bought by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund in 2021. He moved from Burnley for about $32 million, but was loaned to Forest 12 months later after scoring five goals in 39 appearances.
He completed a permanent move to Forest in June this year in a deal worth $19 million.
Newcastle have now lost five of their last seven games in all competitions and boast only one win in the league during that run.
AP
Watch every match of the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League and UEFA Europa Conference League on Stan Sport. All the action streaming ad-free, live and on demand, with select matches in 4K UHD.
Sports news, results and expert commentary. Sign up for our Sport newsletter.