Brighton stun Manchester United in 3-1 win
Brighton and Hove Albion made it four league wins in a row against Manchester United, with a comfortable 3-1 win at Old Trafford.
Despite the home side’s strong start, it was Brighton who took the lead after just 20 minutes. ex-United player Danny Welbeck tapped home Simon Adingra’s cross to make it 1-0 – largely against the run of play. This was Welbeck’s fourth goal against United since leaving them in 2014.
The home side thought they’d equalised when Marcus Rashford’s cut back was poked home by summer signing Rasmus Højlund on his first start for the club. However, VAR showed that the ball had gone out of play before Rashford’s pass and the goal was disallowed just before half-time.
It took just eight minutes of the second half for the visitors to double the lead. Pascal Groß did well in the United penalty area to dummy the ball, before finding the bottom corner. United were able to create a few half chances with Rashford going close, but were unable to threaten the Brighton backline greatly.
United’s misery was compounded when substitute João Pedro curled the ball past Andre Onana to make it 3-0 to the away side. The home fans booed, and many left after the goal. Many of the fans were pointing the blame towards Erik Ten Hag and the Glazer family.
The home side were able to grab a consolation, as Hannibal Mejbri came on and curled the ball brilliantly into the bottom corner from distance for his first United goal.
The goal proved to be too late to start a comeback, though, as Brighton were able to see the game out comfortably and even went close to a fourth goal after catching Man United on the break. Substitute Evan Ferguson came close, but was denied by Andre Onana – who also prevented a debut goal for Ansu Fati.
Brighton’s win brought a first home defeat in 13 months for Manchester United, which goes back to Erik Ten Hag’s very first game in charge – which was also a defeat to Brighton.
The Seagulls have now moved up to third place in the Premier League after an impressive start to the season. United sit in 13th after conceding 10 goals in their first five matches.
