Man Utd vs Brighton preview | Injury boost for Utd | Expected line-up’s | Prediction

Manchester United will look to keep the pressure on the top four with a win when they take on Brighton at Old Trafford on Saturday afternoon. 

United have enjoyed a return to form since Ole Gunnar Solskjaer replaced Jose Mourinho in the hot-seat last month with the Norwegian coach extending his winning run to six games with victory over Tottenham at Wembley last weekend.

That result has thrown United right back in to the mix for Champions League qualification as they head in to the weekend action sitting level on points with fifth-placed Arsenal and just six adrift of fourth-placed Chelsea.

With the London duo facing-off at the Emirates on Saturday evening, Man Utd have the perfect opportunity to apply some pressure by beating Brighton at Old Trafford tomorrow afternoon.

Chris Hughton’s men head to Manchester off the back of a narrow 1-0 defeat to Liverpool last weekend but the South Coast club have enjoyed a solid start to the season as they sit 13th in the table on 26 points so United shouldn’t take anything for granted.

Team news

United welcome centre-back Eric Bailly back in to the squad after he served his three-match suspension and he could come in for Phil Jones at the back. Chris Smalling is close to returning to action following a foot injury but he’s unlikely to feature tomorrow.

The Red Devils have been boosted by the return to training of Alexis Sanchez after he aggravated a hamstring issue earlier this month but the Chilean international may have to make do with a place on the bench against Brighton with Romelu Lukaku pushing for a recall in attack.

Marouane Fellaini has been ruled out for a month with a calf strain and Marcos Rojo is still working his way back from a niggling injury.

As for Brighton, they’ll hand a late fitness test to midfielder Yves Bissouma after he missed the defeat to Liverpool with a hip problem while Bernardo and Jose Izquierdo remain on the sidelines.

Mat Ryan and Alireza Jahanbakhsh are still on international duty at the Asian Cup.

Expected Line-Ups

Betting tips

United are undefeated in their 10 home matches against Brighton in all competitions [W8 D2] while the Seagulls have lost all eight of their away games against the ‘big six’ since being promoted in 2017. Solskjaer has given United their ‘mojo’ back and I can’t see past a routine win tomorrow. I’m backing United to ease to a 2-0 victory which is available at most bookmakers at odds of 8/1. That seems a solid bet but can can get extra value by throwing in Marcus Rashford as first goalscorer as that increases the odds to 18/1. For those who want more of a ‘sure thing’, I like Both teams to Score NO at odds of 4/5.