“Hi Rob,” says David Wall. “A random thought from your earlier MBM on the Newcastle - Spurs game, what a lovely word ‘wallop’ is. The kind of thing Ted Hastings might work into a colloquial phrase or other.”
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has just said Anthony Martial may not play again this season because of a knee injury. As exasperating as he can be, that would still be a big blow to United’s hopes of winning the Europa League.
It’s already been an eventful day in the Premier League. Read all about it by clicking the clickable things below.
United’s injury list is not as bad as feared. Marcus Rashford, Mason Greenwood and Edinson Cavani all start, as do Paul Pogba and Dean Henderson, who is preferred to David de Gea. There are two changes from United’s last league game, the scruffy 1-0 win over West Ham three weeks ago: Pogba and Cavani are in for Scott McTominay and Daniel James.
Graham Potter sticks with the Brighton side that hammered Newcastle before the international break.
Manchester United (4-2-3-1) Henderson; Wan-Bissaka, Lindelof, Maguire, Shaw; Fred, Pogba; Greenwood, Fernandes, Rashford; Cavani.
Substitutes: de Gea, Williams, Tuanzebe, James, Matic, van de Beek, McTominay, Amad.
Brighton (3-4-1-2) Sanchez; White, Dunk, Veltman; Gross, Lallana, Bissouma, Moder; Trossard; Maupay, Welbeck.
Substitutes: Steele, Karbownik, Mac Allister, Alzate, Propper, Caicedo, Jahanbakhsh, Izquierdo, Zeqiri.
Referee Mike Dean.
It’s second v sixteenth at Old Trafford. A home banker, right? Well not necessarily. This, for all kinds of reasons, is a really intriguing game. There’s Manchester United’s injury list and relatively modest home form; Brighton’s excellent recent performances and generally strong away form; the fact Brighton have never, ever, ever won at Old Trafford; and that bizarre game at the Amex Stadium in September, when Leandro Trossard hit the woodwork 49 times and Bruno Fernandes scored the winning goal after the final whistle had been blown.
While United are slightly in limbo - they are 17 points behind Manchester City and have an eight-point cushion from the teams outside the Champions League places - Brighton know exactly what time it is. For all their admirable football, they are still in a relegation battle and need all the points they can get. The league table says they have 32, which is 25 fewer than United. But if you’re into the whole xG thing, both teams should be on 49 points. That theoretical equality is another reason to think this match should be interesting enough to make us all forget the fact we’re missing bloody Line of Duty.
Kick off 7.30pm.
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