Did Hojlund score United's quickest Premier League goal?

There were just 37 seconds on the clock when the Dane took advantage of Amari’i Bell’s defensive lapse before rounding Thomas Kaminski and firing into the net.

It was United’s quickest-ever Premier League away goal and travelling Reds indulging in a final beer or pie on the concourses – or even those making a cuppa at home – might well have had to rely on our match highlights later that evening to fully take it in.

But where does Rasmus rank when it comes to our all-time lightning league efforts?

Since 1992, we’ve scored eight goals in the first minute of top-flight games and, in the video and article below, we count them down from slowest – at a relatively snail-paced 54 seconds - to quickest…

7= WAYNE ROONEY v ASTON VILLA
54 seconds, 1 February 2011

A rare example of a goalkeeper notching an assist, as Edwin van der Sar pumped a free-kick down the middle for Rooney to bring down and smash past Brad Friedel. It was just Wayne’s third Premier League goal of the season, but he soon added a fourth as United emerged 3-1 victors to extend our unbeaten league run to 29 games, moving five points clear at the top in the process.

7= WAYNE ROONEY v WIGAN
54 seconds, 14 January 2009

Rooney also scored after 54 seconds against Wigan in 2008/09, when he escaped the attention of the Latics’ defenders to sidefoot home Cristiano Ronaldo’s centre. That was all she wrote for Wazza in this encounter, as he departed five minutes later with a hamstring injury. That goal, however, was enough for all three points as we continued to successfully chase down Premier League leaders Liverpool.

6. WAYNE ROONEY v QPR
52 seconds, 18 December 2011

Yep, it’s him again! Rooney’s quickest Premier League effort came at Loftus Road, where he headed in Antonio Valencia’s teasing cross during the early knockings of our 2011/12 visit. Michael Carrick later added a second goal as Sir Alex Ferguson’s men briefly overtook Manchester City at the table’s summit.

5. RASMUS HOJLUND v LUTON
37 seconds, 18 February 2024

Hojlund’s strike in Bedfordshire overtook Rooney’s in terms of lightning-fast Premier League away goals, by a significant margin of 15 seconds. Casemiro’s clearance landed at the feet of Bell, who was unaware Hojlund was lurking. The Dane made no mistake with the rest, as he also became the youngest player to score in six straight Premier League games.

4. JAVIER HERNANDEZ v CHELSEA
36 seconds, 8 May 2011

Another goal from 2011, and this one was vital in settling the nerves for what was a must-not-lose game. The second-placed visitors rocked up at Old Trafford just three points behind United in the table and both sides had an identical goal difference. All the ingredients were there for a nailbiting afternoon, but Chicharito’s finish after Ji-sung Park’s incisive through ball dealt the Blues a blow they were never able to recover from. Nemanja Vidic made it 2-0 on 23 minutes and, despite Frank Lampard’s second-half goal, the Reds were just a point away from a record 19th title.

3. ROBIN VAN PERSIE v WEST HAM
32 seconds, 28 November 2012

Van Persie’s deflected effort settled an otherwise fairly forgettable game, as Sir Alex's men continued to set a frantic pace at the top. Despite winning 10 of our opening 13 fixtures, we’d gone 1-0 down in nine of them, so the Reds scoring first in this game was a welcome sight – even if James Collins’s leg played a huge part in RVP netting his 12th goal of what would be one of the great campaigns for a United forward.

2. RUUD VAN NISTELROOY v SOUTHAMPTON
31 seconds, 22 December 2001

Another prolific Dutch forward sits second on the list, with this strike coming slap-bang in the midst of a purple patch that saw Ruud score 10 times in eight games. The opening effort of what turned out to be a hat-trick was just trademark van Nistelrooy, as he took down Paul Scholes’s heat-seeking diagonal with his first touch and launched it beyond the hapless Paul Jones with his second. The Reds went on to win 6-1.

1. RYAN GIGGS v SOUTHAMPTON
16 seconds, 18 November 1995

Giggsy boasts United’s quickest Premier League goal – and by some margin, too. Southampton were also the victims for this one, as they ceded possession from kick-off. Scholes played in Cantona, who laid it off to the Wales winger and watched as Giggs tucked it away, first time. The south-coast club would have their revenge in the away fixture, beating us 3-1 in a game famous for our half-time kit swap, but the Reds still went on to win a third title in four years.