Getty Bruno Fernandes and Manchester United face Luton Town in the third round of the Carabao Cup on Tuesday.
Following an unexpectedly rocky start to their 2020-21 Premier League campaign, Manchester United will shift their focus to a third-round Carabao Cup match against Luton Town on Tuesday.
Note: Heavy may earn an affiliate commission if you sign up via a link on this page
In the United States, the match (3:15 p.m. ET) won’t be on TV anywhere, but anyone in the US can watch Man United vs Luton Town live on ESPN+:
ESPN+ will have live coverage of every Carabao Cup match in 20-21, as well as FA Cup, EFL, Bundesliga, Serie A, DFL Supercup, Bundesliga 2, MLS and other live sports. It also includes every 30-for-30 documentary and additional original content (both video and written) all for $5.99 per month.
Or, if you also want Disney+ and Hulu, you can get all three for $12.99 per month, which works out to about 31 percent savings:
Get the ESPN+, Disney+ and Hulu Bundle
Once signed up for ESPN+, you can watch Man United vs Luton Town live on the ESPN app on your Roku, Roku TV, Amazon Fire TV or Firestick, Apple TV, Chromecast, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, iPhone, Android phone, iPad or Android tablet. Or you can watch on your computer via ESPN.com.
Manchester United vs Luton Town Preview
The weekend marked a disastrous start to the Premier League season for Manchester United, who looked listless in a 3-1 defeat at home against Crystal Palace.
It was especially disappointing considering how well United finished the 19-20 season post-restart, but the revamped schedule certainly hasn’t been friendly to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s squad. They were playing in the Europa League up until mid-August, and as a result, they got a late start to the new Premier League campaign. Some rust was undoubtedly on display, while Palace were in fine form after beginning the season with a win over Southampton the weekend before.
“We need four or five games to get up to the standard we know we’re capable of,” Solskjaer said. “We haven’t had an opportunity to get those games in and we have to make sure, in these games, we get the minutes and make the players ready to start competing in the league again.”
One positive from the weekend was the debut of Donny van de Beek, who came on in the 67th minute and provided United their lone goal. He was delivered a lucky chance in the box but nevertheless finished it off with a smooth finish into the bottom corner.
The 23-year-old Dutchman will get a chance to build off that debut, as he is expected to get his first United start against Luton Town. The same should apply to Dean Henderson, who established himself as one of England’s best goalkeepers while on loan at Sheffield. Both will need to take advantage of these opportunities to help carve out more Premier League minutes.
Overall, United’s lineup should feature plenty of players who didn’t start against Palace. In addition to van de Beek and Henderson, players such as Mason Greenwood, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Odion Ighalo should crack the starting XI.
Luton Town, meanwhile, is off to a cracking start to the season. They beat Norwich City, who were in the Premier League last season, in the opening round, and they followed that up with a win over Reading, who currently sit atop the Championship table. They’ve also won both their league matches to start the season, knocking off Barnsley and Derby. In those four wins, Nathan Jones’ squad has been very stout at the back, conceding just twice.
Ultimately, United shouldn’t have much trouble advancing to the fourth round. The Red Devils have too much talent not too. But when you take recent form into account, Luton may just make this a little more interesting than many are expecting.
The winner will play either Brighton or Preston North End next week.