Manchester United vs Brighton – Match Preview & Prediction

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And we are finally back! New Premier League season is upon us! This Friday night, the new campaign starts, exactly 30 years since the start of the first ever Premier League season in 1992. Manchester United are set to play their first match on Sunday afternoon, when they will host Brighton and Hove Albion at Old Trafford.

After months of transfer stories and several transfer sagas which are not done yet – yes, we are talking about Cristiano Ronaldo and Frenkie de Jong – it is time for us to now turn our heads to actual football. Man United will play their first competitive match under new manager Erik ten Hag and it will be interesting to see how this team will do under the Dutchman.

Team News

Man United will be without Anthony Martial, which was confirmed by Ten Hag during the pre-match press conference. This could open the place for Cristiano Ronaldo in the starting lineup, but Ten Hag also recently claimed that the Portuguese is far from being match fit. Facundo Pellistri and Brandon Williams will also miss the match – the former due to ankle injury, while the latter’s reasons were not specified.

Graham Potter, on the other side, has said that his Brighton side is completely ready, with the exception of Jakub Moder. He has a knee-injury which will keep him out of action for a long while. Everyone else will be ready to face United.

Form Guide

As for the form of the two teams, there is not much to look into. Neither side has played any competitive games this season, so we can only take a look at friendly matches. Man United did really well during their toor, beating Liverpool 4-0, but also getting comfortable victories against Melbourne Victory and Crystal Palace.

The games against Aston Villa, Atletico Madrid and Rayo Vallecano did not see United win any one of them, but Ten Hag was also making huge changes to the starting lineups. This was especially the case against Rayo, when only a select few players in the starting eleven were players who will get a lot of playing time this season.

As for Brighton, they played five friendlies against various sides. A 0-0 draw against Belgian side Union SG was followed by wins against Portuguese Estoril and then reading. They also lost to Brentford and smashed Espanyol 5-1 in their last pre-season match. None of these matches could mean too much, but considering the 4-0 Brighton managed to inflict upon United last season, Ten Hag’s team should be careful this Sunday.

Predicted Outcome

With the start of the new season, a new hope emerges among the fans and team members. The same is the case with us too and we believe we could see a good start from the Red Devils. We predict Manchester United will beat Brighton 2-0 and open the new Premier League campaign in the best possible fashion. United could do with a decent start this season, to boost their morale right away and give Ten Hag some early credit with the players.

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