MU was filled with excitement to welcome Brighton at Old Trafford. After 5 consecutive wins in the Premier League (6 in all competitions), the Red Devils are only 6 points behind 4th-placed Chelsea.
In this match, Coach Solskjaer kept the same lineup compared to the 1-0 victory over Tottenham. It was not until the last minute that coach Solskjaer was forced to change because Luke Shaw was injured in the warm-up and had to give way to Diogo Dalot.
Like previous matches, MU pushed up their formation to attack right after the opening whistle. However, they faced a fierce resistance from Brighton. Although they have not played well away from home, Brighton have been in good form recently and they have shown that at Old Trafford.
It was not until the 20th minute that MU had the first chance. From the right wing, Young escaped very quickly before stretching Rashford to finish but defender Brighton promptly stopped in front of the goal. After that, Pogba had the opportunity to kick but still could not pass the visitors. Consecutive opportunities given to Pogba and Lindelof but the goal has not come to M.U. What comes must come. After many efforts to force the pitch, MU got a goal to open the score. In the 27th minute, Pogba walked the ball to the left wing corridor before Gaetan Bong foul. It was he himself who successfully performed 11 meters to open the score of the match.
In the 44th minute, the score was unexpectedly doubled for M.U after Rashford's classy handling. Receiving the ball from a tight angle, Rashford cleverly tricked the Brighton defender before carelessly sending the ball into the far corner. 2-0 was also the score of the first half.
In the second half, MU still maintained the attacking game as usual. However, the goal no longer came to them. In the first 20 minutes of the second half, Rashford, Lingard, Martial and Lindelof had dangerous shots but were not accurate enough to create a goal.
Despite having 2 goals in the lead, MU still continued to attack when entering the second half. The Red Devils' spearheads such as Rashford, Martial and Lingard continuously caused a stir in front of goalkeeper Button's goal.
Passionate about attacking but failing to score, MU paid a heavy price in the 72nd minute. In a rather simple attack by Brighton, the MU defender stood up to let Gross pick up the ball and easily shot into De Gea's net from close range.
After being ejected by 1 goal, MU appeared confused. On the contrary, Brighton was moved to see clearly and boldly pushed up their formation to find an equalizer. The final minutes were therefore extremely tense for fans at Old Trafford, especially when the Red Devils still missed valuable counter-attack opportunities. Fortunately for MU, they stood firm until the referee blew the whistle to end the match.
Thus, MU had their 7th consecutive win in all competitions and advanced 1 step to the Top 4 and put great pressure on Chelsea and Arsenal.
