Match Preview: Brighton v Manchester United
In case you hadn’t heard, Manchester United don’t have a great record at the Amex Stadium against Brighton & Hove Albion.
Twice the mighty Red Devils have made the journey to Falmer for a Premier League game and twice they have returned north empty handed. When we spoke to Manchester United blog Old Trafford Faithful, they even went so far as to describe the Amex as their bogey ground.
Can the Albion make it three home wins in a row over United? If they can, then with the recent results of the Premier League’s bottom five, top flight survival will be all but assured. Here’s our Brighton versus Manchester United match preview.
A brief history of Manchester United
Ah, Manchester United. Founded in 1878, they have become the most successful team in English football history over the past 142 years. Included in their trophy haul are a record-setting 20 titles, 12 FA Cups, five League Cups, 21 Community Shields, three European Cups and one Europa League.
The majority of those trophies came in two famous eras. The first was under Sir Matt Busby, whose achievements were all the more impressive given that he had to rebuild the club after the Munich Air Disaster of 1958.
Sir Alex Ferguson was at the helm for the second spell of United domination, which ended with Ferguson’s retirement in 2013. United have never really recovered from his departure, rattling through David Moyes, Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solksjaer with no league title now for eight years.
For those of us who grew up at a time when United’s success meant that 70% of kids at our Sussex schools ‘supported’ United, the current trials and tribulations being suffered by the Red Devils are an absolute delight to witness.
And it’s that proliferation of United fans in Sussex which makes Brighton’s recent success at the Amex against the Red Devils so much sweeter.
Manchester United this season
This has been a strange season for United. They made a pretty shocking start, to the point that when we were writing our match preview for Brighton versus Manchester United at Old Trafford in November, the Albion were actually higher placed in the Premier League table.
Something has clicked for Solksjaer and his players since then, however. They have lost just four times in the Premier League and are currently in the midst of a 14 game unbeaten run.
A top four finish and return to the Champions League is suddenly back on the cards. For a club whose supporters value trophies more than league position – unlike Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur – there is further good news with United in with a shot of winning both the FA Cup and the Europa League.
Brighton’s head-to-head record with Manchester United
Before 2018, Brighton had won just once in 18 attempts against Manchester United. That came in the 1982-83 season, when Peter Ward netted the only goal of the game as the Albion triumphed 1-0 at the Goldstone.
The Albion’s recent successes at the Amex have improved that record to three wins in 22. There have been five draws – the most famous of those coming in the 1983 FA Cup Final – with United winning 14 times.
Brighton’s head-to-head record with Manchester United
Last six meetings
• Manchester United 3-1 Brighton (Premier League, 10/11/19)
• Manchester United 2-1 Brighton (Premier League, 19/01/19)
• Brighton 3-2 Manchester United (Premier League, 19/08/18)
• Brighton 1-0 Manchester United (Premier League, 04/05/18
• Manchester United 2-0 Brighton (FA Cup, 17/03/18)
• Manchester United 1-0 Brighton (Premier League, 25/11/17)
November’s meeting between the two sides saw Graham Potter opt for one of his more bizarre selections and set ups. Against a front line with the pace of Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial, Potter played a high defensive line and an aggressive press.
Needless to say, the Albion were torn apart in the first half. Five Brighton players got booked as the only way to stop United running through was seemingly to haul their players to the ground.
None of that nonsense this time please, Graham.
Team news
Adam Webster is an injury doubt having left last week’s 0-0 draw away at Leicester City midway through the first half. Potter’s squad otherwise has a clean bill of health, although Lord knows what he will do selection wise.
Pascal Gross has an outstanding record against United with three goals and a couple of assists. Both he and Davy Propper could return after being rested at the King Power Stadium, possibly at the expense of Alexis Mac Allister or Aaron Mooy and Dale Stephens.
Tariq Lamptey seems certain to start and it will be interesting to see how he copes with the sort of stern test that United’s forward players will offer.
Lamptey was outstanding against Leicester to send the hype machine into overdrive. It was the most impressive full debut of a young players since, er, Abdul Razak in February 2012 – which provides a lesson itself in how one swallow does not make a summer.
A similarly impressive showing in keeping Rashford and Martial quiet and some Albion fans will be hailing Lamptey as a future Ballon d’Or winner.
Manchester United’s key players
We’ve covered Rashford and Martial already in our Brighton versus Manchester United match preview. Bruno Fernandes is the other man to keep an eye on, the midfield player having been in outstanding form since his £47 million arrival from Sporting Lisbon in January.
Reading the comments of United fans on Twitter, a lot of them reckon that Fernandes should be rested for the game at the Amex as it is an easy three points.
Forget United’s terrible record at the Amex, if Solksjaer fancies listening to these so-called experts, then we would be very happy.
A good WeAreBrighton.com memory of Manchester United at home
Having spent most of our childhoods having Sussex-born United fans asking why we supported “a crap team like Brighton”, defeating United 1-0 at the end of the 2017-18 season was a particularly sweet way to secure Premier League survival.
20 years earlier, the Albion had finished second bottom of the Football League with 35 points. United were a year away from winning that treble. And now here we were, facing and beating them on a level playing field.
Brighton were no longer that crap team – and half of those United fans who took the piss were now Amex season ticket holders. How times change.
A bad WeAreBrighton.com memory of Manchester United at home
You have to go back to April 1982 to find the last time that United won in Sussex. There genuinely are not any bad memories to be had from home games against United for two generations of Brighton supporters, which is an astonishing fact given the historical disparity between the clubs.
Our favourite player to play for Brighton and Manchester United
James Wilson has always held a special place in the hearts of the WAB team for that time he threw up on the pitch on New Year’s Day 2016 before Brighton’s defeat to Wolverhampton Wanderers.
It’s something we have seen (and done) on countless occasions in Sunday League before, but had never witnessed from a highly paid professional footballer – let alone one on loan from Manchester United.
Wilson’s career seems to have gone steadily downhill since that moment and he can now be found playing in League Two with Salford City – although given the money that is swirling around at Moor Lane, he is probably still on a Championship level wage.
What we like about Manchester
Manchester is a brilliant city, arguably the finest in England. It is packed with good pubs, has a thriving music scene, is home to Coronation Street and has show the resilience to overcome both IRA and an ISIS terrorist attacks in the last 30 years.
All of which makes it a real shame that most United fans have never been to Manchester to appreciate how good the town of the club they ‘support’ is.
Prediction
Can Brighton’s excellent home record against United continue? This is probably the hardest game that the Albion have had against the Red Devils, given that in the 2017-18 season United were already guaranteed second place secured and the 2018-19 campaign was when it all went wrong for Mourinho.
United are in good form and chasing a top four spot, making it doubly difficult. We have however been trying to inject a sense of optimism into our post-lockdown match preview series (!), so lets go for Brighton 1-1 Manchester United and another point towards survival.
