Man Utd vs Brighton betting preview with odds and prediction

Manchester United begin the 2022/23 Premier League season on Sunday afternoon when they welcome Brighton to Old Trafford.

Erik ten Hag arrived this summer as the new permanent manager and he knows he’s got a huge task on his hands. Man Utd finished sixth last season and are miles behind the top clubs so ten Hag is overseeing a major rebuild to try and get the Red Devils back where they belong.

The main aim for this season should be to get Man Utd back in the Champions League and a top four finish will be the minimum expectation from the clubs hierarchy. However, that’s not going to be easy as Manchester City and Liverpool are virtually nailed on which leaves just two places up for grabs.

Chelsea, Tottenham and Arsenal are also battling for those all-important Champions League qualification spots so United need to start the season well to show they are a force to be reckoned with this campaign.

They face a tricky test on Sunday as Brighton are a dangerous side who play good football under Graham Potter, so ten Hag will need to have his squad focussed. Much of the pre-match talk has centred around Cristiano Ronaldo amid reports the Portuguese superstar wants to leave, so ten Hag will hope that doesn’t detract too much attention away from the game.

Betting odds

Man Utd are the pre-match favourites to win the game with betting sites pricing the hosts at around 4/6. Brighton will be quietly confident of causing an upset at Old Trafford and they can be backed at odds of 4/1 to claim all three points. The draw is available at 29/10.

Both teams to score looks a good bet at odds of 5/6 and you can back Man Utd to win with BTTS at 13/5. We think United will grind out the win and a 2-1 home victory looks tempting at odds of 13/2. If we add Bruno Fernandes as first goalscorer then the odds increase to a whopping 50/1.

Team news

All eyes will be on the team sheet to see if Ronaldo starts. The striker has barely trained in pre-season and won’t be match fit but it would still be a major call from ten Hag to leave his star man on the bench.

Anthony Martial is set to miss the game due to a thigh injury so United don’t have too many other options up front if Ronaldo isn’t deemed fit to start. Marcus Rashford could be the man given the nod.

Lisandro Martinez is in-line to make his competitive debut following his summer move from Ajax. The Argentinean is likely to start alongside Harry Maguire in defence. Tyrell Malacia is also hoping to start after joining this summer, although Luke Shaw may keep his place at left-back.

Christian Eriksen is likely to get a start after joining United on a free transfer this summer. Diogo Dalot will hope to start at right-back ahead of Aaron Wan-Bissaka while Bruno Fernandes and Jason Sancho are fit to start the first game of the season.

Prediction

Ten Hag will be desperate to get off to a winning start and there were some positive signs in pre-season that he’s getting his ideas across to the players. Brighton have the quality to cause problems but we’re backing Man Utd to edge it at Old Trafford. Man Utd 2-1 Brighton