Manchester United are ready to continue their Premier League ride. It was a painful one for the most part of the season. The rough roads and rocky losses were making everyone on this bus feel ill. It was always on the edge of vomiting, but since the ‘medicine’ of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, everyone is feeling great right now. The skies are clear again and the ride is thoroughly enjoyable.
Next stop will be Brighton and Hove Albion. The Seagulls will be visiting Old Trafford this weekend and it is a match many Man United fans will be eagerly waiting for. Chris Hughton’s team has made the Devils suffer recently and that needs to be changed.
Slight Overperformance
Brighton have been better than their expected goals were predicting them to be, both in terms of scoring and conceding. They have scored 24 and conceded 30, instead of roughly 22 and 34, as xG would have it. It might seem as a slim difference, but in this case it would be three or four points less, probably. And that would be enough to take them all the way back into relegation fight.
It is not that they are not troubled with the prospect of potential relegation right now, but they seem good. Brighton are eight points above Newcastle and after Man United, they will have a good run of matches against Fulham, Watford and Burnley.
Set-Piece Goals Everywhere
If there is one thing Brighton are doing incredibly well, it is scoring goals from set-pieces. From their 22 goals this season, just nine came from open play. Nine came after corners, further two after set-pieces and another four from the penalty spot. That is… a lot! Brighton are one of the tallest teams, but their structure in dead-ball situations is a very well defined. Players are heavily relying on this aspect of the game and the Devils must be careful.
Glenn Murray And No One Else
Glenn Murray might be well in his thirties, but he is still scoring goals. So far this season, he has eight by his name, after scoring 12 last season. That is 20 Premier League goals for him since Brighton came up from the Championship. The problem is what to do when Murray is not in form, or even worse, when he is injured?
That is one problem Hughton still has not managed to solve. His second-best goalscorer this season is defender Shane Duffy and that by accumulating just 1.94 xG – that is not sustainable. No one else scored more than two goals and Florin Andone has not been good enough. Pascal Gross is miles from his last season’s form and those numbers are hard to replace right now.
One Win In Last 7 Matches
Brighton have won just one match in the last seven, against Everton at home. It was a very important and deserved win and in the last four games they lost to Liverpool, while taking a point off of Arsenal and West Ham. Generally, that is good form for a club of their size. From this run of seven matches, only losses to Burnley and somewhat Bournemouth could be looked at negatively.
Man United should be beating teams like Brighton, especially in this moment for Solskjaer’s team. And of course, there is that 3-2 loss in August everyone in Manchester is trying to forget.
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