Rasmus Hojlund: Why is Manchester United striker in goal drought?

Hojlund had to wait until 26 December for his first Premier League goal last term.

But that prompted a purple patch of eight goals in eight games, with an injury-interrupted first season at the club ending with 16 goals in 43 matches.

However, he has only managed seven in 35 fixtures in all competitions this term and that drop-off appears no surprise given he has averaged 1.5 shots per game over the course of the season while making just 3.5 touches on average in an opponent’s penalty area.

Garnacho (8.4), Diallo (7.3), Rashford (5.1) and Zirkzee (4.7) have all had more touches in the opposition box than the Dane.

That same quartet plus Bruno Fernandes and Casemiro also average more shots on goal than Hojlund, who registered 12 goals in 21 appearances for Sturm Graz and another 10 in 34 games in Italy.

Those figures also look woefully low when you consider that Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah and Luis Diaz had 16 touches between them in the Manchester City penalty area in their Premier League victory just over a week ago.

Obi also managed six against Fulham in six minutes less and another cause for concern is that Hojlund’s numbers have dropped since 19 December to 1.3 and 3.1.

Chris Sutton, who won the Golden Boot as joint-top Premier League goalscorer when he was with Blackburn in 1997-98 can relate to Hojlund’s experience, having endured a miserable spell when at Chelsea where he went 21 games without a goal.

“The first thing I consider when any striker is being criticised is whether he is getting loads of chances? I’m not so sure Hojlund is,” Sutton told BBC Sport.

“He is suffering, as a lot of strikers do, from that chronic lack of confidence which leads to a lack of belief and hesitancy. When strikers go on runs like the one he is on, it plays on your mind. It is probably affecting all his game, not just in front of goal, and the longer it goes on the worse it gets.

“Is the effort there? Yes, absolutely. Could he be doing better? Of course he could be but you could say that about virtually every Manchester United player.

“You have to remember that United are not just under-performing a little bit, they are miles off it. There is an argument that, under Ruben Amorim, they have got worse than they were under Erik ten Hag.

“His issue at United is that, as well as trying to find some form, all strikers are reliant on service and he is not getting much.”