Manchester United welcome Brighton and Hove Albion to Old Trafford on Sunday afternoon, looking for two Premier League wins on the bounce for the first time this season, after eventually overcoming Southampton on Thursday night.
United have only played Brighton 34 times and have won 21 of them.
They have drawn five and have been on the losing side eight times in total.
Here are three storylines to whet the appetite.
Danny Welbeck’s return
The Old Trafford crowd always enjoys welcoming back one of their own and Danny Welbeck will once again return to where it all began.
The Manchester native played 142 times for the Red Devils scoring 29 goals, including a Champions League strike at the Bernabeu in 2013.
He has gone on to play for Arsenal, Watford and Brighton in his career.
The 34 year old scored against United in the Seagulls’ 2-1 victory over his former side in August and has found the back of the net five times in the league against his old team.
According to the BBC, “he has scored more goals against the Red Devils than any other former player in the Premier League.”
Brighton are truly United’s bogey side
The victory on Thursday was a relief as it was the club’s first victory at home since the 1st of December and another monkey on their back they would love to get rid of is their poor form against Brighton.
The Red Devils did win the last match of the season 2-0 on the south coast last year but that was a rarity in recent history.
Despite United’s historical dominance of this fixture, Brighton have had the upper hand as of late.
“Brighton are vying to earn a third consecutive Premier League away win at Manchester United. The only club to have achieved that feat are Manchester City, on two separate occasions.”
What’s more, “the Seagulls have won five of their past six Premier League matches versus the Red Devils, and seven of 15 overall. Their win rate of 47% is the highest by any side against United in the competition’s history.”
United aiming for a better start
Interestingly, United started their first two matches under Ruben Amorim in electric fashion scoring inside the first two minutes against Ipswich Town and Bodo/Glimt.
Nonetheless, one aspect that has characterised the club’s play this season is poor starts to games.
“The Red Devils have trailed at half-time in six top-flight fixtures this term, second only to Leicester.”
This is something that must be eradicated as regularly giving teams head starts, like they did on Thursday, is the very definition of shooting yourself in the foot.
Therefore, Amorim will be keen for his side not to fall behind in this encounter against one of the hardest teams to beat in the league who have only lost four league matches all season.
Featured image Matt McNulty via Getty Images
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Alex Browne
Alex is a huge Manchester United fan, inspired by greats of his homeland such as George Best, Harry Gregg and Norman Whiteside. Proud owner of such niche shirts such as Kleberson, Eric Djemba-Djemba and Gary Neville. Grew up pretending to be Ruud van Nistelrooy and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in the back garden, with little success.
