Having beaten Fulham on the opening day of the Premier League 2024/25 season, Manchester United are the first team to play for the second game week running. The Red Devils take a trip to the Amex on Saturday where they take on an impressive Brighton & Hove Albion.
Man Utd won their opening encounter 1-0 against the Cottagers whereas Brighton trashed the Toffees 3-0 in their first game of the season. The Seagulls have been a bogey team for the Red Devils in recent seasons and could look to cause an upset.
One thing that is certain about Brighton is that they’ll come out and play an attacking brand of football. Man Utd will find a lot of space on the counter and how they take their chances would determine the result of this game. It’s safe to say that this game is unlikely to be a boring 0-0 stalemate though.
Here is how we at WAFU think Erik ten Hag will set his team up for the trip to the Amex to take on Brighton & Hove Albion in the Premier League
Andre Onana is certain to start in between the posts and will be hoping to keep up the good work against Fulham although maintaining another clean sheet against Brighton might be difficult. If he can help the Red Devils win, that’s as good as a clean sheet.
Noussair Mazraoui had an impressive debut for Man Utd against Fulham and will likely continue at right-back against Brighton. Matthijs de Ligt was given his first minutes off the bench against the Cottagers and could be in line to start alongside Lisandro Martinez in the centre of defence with Harry Maguire dropping to the bench.
There aren’t any natural left-backs in the squad for Erik ten Hag to call upon. Surely, he isn’t going to hand Harry Amass a start! Diogo Dalot is likely to keep his starting role from the left. Alternatively, Ten Hag could start De Ligt and Maguire as centre-backs and put Lisandro Martinez as the left-back but he is likely to persist with Dalot.
Casemiro and Kobbie Mainoo were arguably Man Utd’s two
best players against Fulham and the duo should continue at the base of midfield with no real options to replace them from the bench as of yet. The Brazilian superstar will want to ensure he continues his good form against the Seagulls, especially knowing in the back of his mind that a certain 23-year-old Uruguayan is on his way to Old Trafford.
Marcus Rashford, despite an indifferent performance against Fulham, should keep his place on the right wing. Bruno Fernandes should return to a more familiar #10 role after playing the past two games as a false #9. Mason Mount is likely to move to the right to replace Amad Diallo to give more control to the team.
New signing Joshua Zirkzee had a cameo to remember on his Red Devils debut and would want to continue his goalscoring form. He showed that he loves dropping deep and linking up play and this could particularly be handy against a team like Brighton.
Off the bench, McTominay, Diallo and Garnacho are certain to get minutes. It remains to be seen if either Antony or Jadon Sancho feature in any capacity against the Seagulls. Man Utd will be hoping to continue their winning run but Brighton are not an easy opposition to face. Let’s see how this fixture pans out.
