Manchester United face Brighton and Hove Albion at the Amex Stadium in their penultimate Premier League match on Saturday evening. Ralf Rangnick’s side returned from poor form to beat Brentford 3-0 in the final match of the season at Old Trafford.
The goals in that match came from Bruno Fernandes, Cristiano Ronaldo and Raphaël Varane. It was probably one of the best performances from the squad this season, which shows that there was nothing really spectacular during the course of the season.
United will be seeking to continue their winning ways into the last two matches of the season, also allowing players who are resigned to leave the club in the summer to get some time on the pitch, also allowing youth players to get more minutes ahead of next season.
Brighton will also be seeking to keep themselves on trace with a good home performance as they look to remain inside the top ten teams in the league. United have a six point cushion over West Ham United, who have a game in hand so their UEFA Europa League participation is not yet guaranteed.
Manchester United:
De Gea;
Dalot, Lindelöf, Varane, Telles;
Matić, McTominay;
Mata, Fernandes, Elanga;
Ronaldo
Substitutes:
Henderson; Jones, Maguire, Wan-Bissaka, Fernández; Lingard, Fred, Garnacho; Cavani
Brighton and Hove Albion:
Sanchez;
Veltman, Dunk, Cucurella;
March, Bissouma, Caicedo, Trossard;
Groß, Mac Allister;
Welbeck
Substitutes:
Steele; Lamptey, Webster, Duffy, Offiah; Lallana, Alzate; Maupay, Ferguson
United and Brighton have met nine times in the Premier League. United have won seven times, drawn zero times with Brighton winning two times. United have scored 18 goals, winning three penalties, scoring all of them. Brighton have scored nine goals, winning two penalties, scoring both of them.
United have kept three clean sheets with Brighton keeping one. Discipline has been an issue with United players receiving 12 yellow cards and no red cards and Brighton players being shown 17 yellow cards and one red card. United need to continue the run they started against Brentford.
Danny Welbeck, Oliver Norwood, James Wilson, Jesse Lingard, Tomasz Kuszczak, Robbie Savage, Paul McShane, Frank Stapleton, Andy Ritchie, Peter O’Sullivan, Wilf Tranter, Joe Carolan, Jack Mansell and Mickey Thomas have all played for both United and Brighton.
One notable mention is Eric Steele. Whilst he only played for Brighton as a goalkeeper, he was one of the goalkeeper coached for United from 2008 until 2013 and helped David Ge Gea considerably after he signed for the club in the summer of 2011.
Written by John Walker
