Confirmed XI: United v Brighton – Ronaldo, Sancho and Elanga start

United cannot fall to another draw in this match seeing as players who messed up still start

Manchester United welcome Brighton and Hove Albion to Old Trafford in the Premier League this evening. This match was supposed to be played in December but was postponed because of the number of coronavirus cases at the Old Trafford club.

United have failed to win three matches in a row, drawing all by the same 1-1 scoreline but exited the Emirates FA Cup losing 8-7 on penalties. For all of those matches, United played well in the first halves of the matches, failing to do so in the second halves of the matches.

Because of this, United are still out of the top four with this game in hand left, having not taken advantage in the last two Premier League matches which with the teams below them still having games in hand, could give them a problem moving forward.

That said, United sitting out of UEFA Champions League football for a season is not going to be a bad thing. It will reduce the money the Glazer’s can take away from the club and could see a reduction in wages for any players who remain at the club after the summer.

Manchester United:

De Gea;

Dalot, Lindelof, Maguire, Shaw;

Fernandes, McTominay, Fred;

Elanga, Ronaldo, Sancho

Substitutes:

Henderson, Heaton; Jones, Telles, Wan-Bissaka; Pogba, Mata, Lingard; Rashford

Brighton and Hove Albion:

Sanchez;

Veltman, Webster, Dunk, Cucurella;

Moder, Gross, Bissouma;

Mac Allister, Maupay, Trossard

Substitutes:

Steele; Lamptey, Duffy; Lallana, Alzate, March, Caicedo; Welbeck, Ferguson

United and Brighton have met eight times in the history of the Premier League. United have won six times, drawing none with Brighton winning twice. United have scored 16 goals, winning three penalties, scoring all of them. Brighton have scored nine goals, winning two penalties, scoring both.

United have kept two clean sheets in this fixture with Brighton keeping one. The disciplinary history is not problematic with United players shown nine yellow cards and no red cards with Brighton players being shown 16 yellow cards and no red cards.

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

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I support Manchester United, the greatest English football team to have ever existed. Bruno Fernandes is the latest in a long line of players with great ability to play for the club. I idolised Bryan Robson, David Beckham, Paul Scholes, and Eric Cantona growing up.