Brighton & Hove Albion vs Manchester United

Amex Stadium is the venue as Brighton & Hove Albion and Manchester United go head-to-head in a tasty-looking Premier League encounter.

The youngster manager in Premier League history got his tenure at Brighton off to a dream start as the 31-year-old Fabian Hurzeler oversaw a thumping 3-0 win against 10-man Everton on day one. Brighton rewarded their up-and-coming coach with a £40m addition of Georginio Rutter from Leeds United during the week, backing the club’s ambition to return to European football after a below-par 11th-place finish last season. Hurzeler’s next task is to rebuild Brighton’s fragile home fortress after the Amex collapsed four times in the Seagulls’ final five top-flight games toward the end of the 2023/24 campaign (W1). Ominously for the home fans, Brighton failed to find the back of the net in all four defeats during that stretch, including a 2-0 loss to upcoming rivals Manchester United on the final day.

That success doesn’t mean Manchester United can rest easily ahead of this trip by any stretch of the imagination, considering it served to end the Red Devils’ miserable four-game losing H2H run beforehand. With Brighton being one of three sides to pull off such a feat against United, manager Erik ten Hag should know better than to underestimate his hosts after overseeing a last-gasp 1-0 victory against Fulham on the opening weekend. Marquee summer arrival Joshua Zirkzee scored off the bench on his Old Trafford debut to inspire Man Utd to a winning league start. The Dutch forward could start at the Amex as Ten Hag bids to avoid losing a third consecutive opening away league game of the season ‘to nil.’ If it’s any consolation, United’s only win in such a contest across the last six years came on this ground in 2020/21 (D2, L3).