Can Ruben Amorim back up an impressive win at Liverpool with another victory this weekend? We look ahead to Saturday’s Premier League clash with our Manchester United vs Brighton & Hove Albion prediction and preview.
Manchester United vs Brighton: The Key Stats
Manchester United narrowly edged Brighton in the pre-match simulations by the Opta supercomputer, winning 37.7% .
Man Utd have won consecutive Premier League games under Ruben Amorim for the first time.
Bruno Fernandes has just three goal involvements in the Premier League this season (2 goals, 1 assist), though these have been worth six points to his side.
Manchester United secured their most notable victory under Ruben Amorim last time out, and he will hope to back up that success when they host Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday.
United were 2-1 winners away to Liverpool last Sunday, with Harry Maguire heading home an 84th-minute winner after Cody Gakpo cancelled out Bryan Mbeumo‘s early opener at Anfield.
Liverpool 1-2 Man Utd Stats Opta
Adding in a 2-0 victory over Sunderland on their last outing at Old Trafford, the eye-catching triumph at Liverpool meant United had won consecutive Premier League games under Amorim for the first time.
However, they last won three in a row between May and August 2024, while they last did so within the same season in February earlier that year (4).
If they are to match that feat and improve on ninth position in the table, there is no better place to do so than on their own turf. United have won their last three Premier League home games, as many as in their previous 13 at Old Trafford (D2 L8).
United last won more consecutively on their home soil between April and August 2023 (8), though, concerningly for Amorim, that run was stopped by a 3-1 defeat to Brighton.
If United are to continue to turn the tide in Amorim’s favour, the Portuguese boss will likely rely on captain Bruno Fernandes, Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha – all of whom impressed at Anfield.
Fernandes set up Maguire’s winner with a gorgeous, first-time volley cross to register just his third goal involvement in this season’s competition (2 goals, 1 assist). Those contributions have claimed United six points, with only Antoine Semenyo’s (9) and Jack Grealish’s (7) worth more points, for Bournemouth and Everton respectively, this term.
Cunha, who was preferred to Benjamin Sesko against Liverpool, has also had more shots following a ball carry than any other player in the Premier League this season (12). He is still waiting for his first goal in United colours, though.
Meanwhile, Mbeumo has only been involved in more Premier League goals against Southampton (8) than he has against Brighton (6 – 3 goals, 3 assists). All six of these have come in his last four starts against the Seagulls.
United must be wary of a familiar face at the other end, though. Danny Welbeck has scored four goals in his last three Premier League games, more than he had in his previous 15 (3).
With braces against Chelsea and Newcastle United in this run, this is only the third season where Welbeck has scored multiple goals in more than one game after 2013-14 (2) and 2017-18 (2).
His most recent double came last Saturday at the Amex Stadium, striking late on to prove Nick Woltemade’s equaliser redundant in a 2-1 win over Newcastle. That win left Fabian Hürzeler’s side 10th in the table, and a point and a place behind United.
If Brighton are to capitalise on Welbeck’s form and surge above United, Hürzeler will have to fix a leaky defence. Brighton have kept just one clean sheet in their last 20 Premier League games, a 2-0 win at Wolves in May.
Their troublesome backline has not necessarily had a sizeable impact, however, considering Brighton have lost just two of their last 13 league games (W7 D4).
The Brighton boss will know there is still significant room for improvement. Despite winning three of their eight Premier League games this season, and leading in two of their three draws (L2), they have spent a lower share of their game time winning (24.1%) than any other game state this term (38.1% losing, 37.8% drawing).
Hürzeler will hope to welcome back Kaoru Mitoma and Joël Veltman should they pass the same late assessments as Brajan Gruda and Diego Gómez, though Jack Hinshelwood, Adam Webster and Solly March remain out long term. United’s only confirmed absentee is Lisandro Martínez.
READ MORE: Manchester United beat Liverpool unexpectedly on Sunday. But Ruben Amorim showed little interest in basking in the glory because he knows what normally follows such a result.
Manchester United vs Brighton Head-to-Head
United have lost six of their last seven Premier League games against Brighton (W1), which is double the amount they had lost against them in their first 17 such meetings (W12 D2 L3).
In fact, Brighton have made Old Trafford a happy hunting ground, winning on their last three visits to United in the Premier League.
Fernandes’ penalty cancelled out Yankuba Minteh‘s opener in this exact fixture in January, before goals from Mitoma and Georginio Rutter secured a 3-1 victory for Brighton.
The last side to win more consecutive league visits to Old Trafford was Manchester City between 1968 and 1972 (5), and Brighton will hope to take a step closer to that run on Saturday.
Brighton wins at Old Trafford
Manchester United vs Brighton Prediction
The Opta supercomputer struggled to split this pair, with Manchester United coming out on top in 37.7% of 10,000 pre-match simulations.
Brighton still hold an encouraging 35.9% chance of a fourth straight win at Old Trafford in the league, while the draw was rated at 26.4%.
Manchester United vs Brighton Predictions
Manchester United vs Brighton Predicted Lineups
Manchester United: Senne Lammens, Matthijs de Ligt, Harry Maguire, Luke Shaw, Manuel Ugarte, Bruno Fernandes, Amad Diallo, Diogo Dalot, Bryan Mbeumo, Mason Mount, Matheus Cunha.
Head coach: Ruben Amorim
Brighton & Hove Albion: Bart Verbruggen, Mats Wieffer, Jan Paul van Hecke, Lewis Dunk, Ferdi Kadioglu, Carlos Baleba, Yasin Ayari, Yankuba Minteh, Georginio Rutter, Maxim De Cuyper, Danny Welbeck.
Head coach:
Opta Power Rankings
The Opta Power Rankings are a global team ranking system. They assign an ability score to over 10,000 domestic football teams. This score is on a scale between zero and 100, where zero is the worst-ranked team in the world and 100 is the best team in the world.
Ahead of kick-off this weekend at Old Trafford, here is the Opta Power Ranking for both sides.
Premier League Stats Opta
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