Albion take on Manchester United on Thursday (8pm) looking to secure a win that would see them move up to sixth in the Premier League.
Avoiding defeat would make it five games unbeaten at the Amex, following on from last Saturday’s sensational 6-0 win over Wolves.
Thursday’s game marks the first of seven Premier League matches in May for Roberto De Zerbi’s team, with their sights firmly set on a European spot.
| Pos | Team | Pld | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
5
|
LIV
|
38 | +28 | 67 |
|
6
|
Albion
|
38 | +19 | 62 |
|
7
|
AVL
|
38 | +5 | 61 |
It’s not an easy run-in though, as five of those fixtures are against teams in the top seven.
That includes United who are fourth and could extend their lead over fifth-place Liverpool to ten points with a win.
Erik ten Hag’s team also head into the game knowing they got the better of Albion in the Emirates FA Cup semi-final just under a fortnight ago, when they beat us on penalties to reach the final.
That has been a part of a rich vein of form for United, who have won four of their last five Premier League games.
Team news
Evan Ferguson will be assessed ahead of Thursday's game at The Amex, having not featured in the Premier League since our 2-1 win over Chelsea on 15 April.
Joel Veltman was substituted against Wolves on Saturday after 65 minutes and is unlikely to be available to face United.
Our last meeting
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While our meeting in the Emirates FA Cup semi-final ended in defeat, we beat United on the opening day of the season – our first ever league victory at Old Trafford. Pascal Gross scored twice in the 2-1 win and prepared for tomorrow’s game with another brace against Wolves at the weekend.
Match stats
Brighton have won their last two Premier League games against Manchester United. They've never won three league games in a row against them before, nor have they ever done the league double over the Red Devils.
Manchester United have lost three of their five Premier League games against Brighton at the Amex Stadium (W2). It's their highest loss rate at any ground they've played at more than once in the competition (60%).
Manchester United have won just one of their last 13 Premier League away games against sides starting the day in the top half of the table (D3 L9), beating Fulham (9th) 2-1 in November. The Red Devils have also failed to keep a clean sheet in any of these 13 games since beating Spurs 3-0 in October 2021.
Brighton have won three of their last four midweek Premier League games (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday), as many victories as in their previous 31 such fixtures (D12 L16). The Seagulls did however lose their most recent such encounter, a 3-1 defeat at Nottingham Forest.
Manchester United have lost just one of their 11 Premier League away games played on a Thursday (W6 D4) and are unbeaten in nine such matches since a 3-1 defeat at Middlesbrough in December 2002.
Manchester United have kept seven clean sheets in their last 10 Premier League matches, with no side keeping more since the start of this run on February 12th (also Aston Villa, 7). They’ve kept 26 clean sheets in all competitions this season, with only Barcelona keeping more (27) across the teams in the top five leagues in Europe in 2022-23.
Pascal Gross is a legend. 🇩🇪👑 pic.twitter.com/wotUarmxUI
— Brighton & Hove Albion (@OfficialBHAFC) May 2, 2023
Brighton's Pascal Groß has scored six Premier League goals against Manchester United, more than he has against any other opponent. Indeed, since Brighton's first Premier League campaign in 2017-18, only Mohamed Salah (10) has scored more against the Red Devils than Groß.
Bruno Fernandes scored the winning goal for Manchester United in their 1-0 win over Aston Villa last time out. Since his debut for the club in February 2020, he’s been involved in 74 Premier League goals (42 goals, 32 assists), 21 more than any other Red Devils player (Marcus Rashford, 53).
Danny Welbeck has been involved in six goals across his last six Premier League appearances for Brighton at the Amex Stadium (5 goals, 1 assist) and will be looking to score in three successive home appearances in the competition for the first time since January 2014 (for Manchester United).No player has scored more Premier League goals against Manchester United having previously played for them in the competition than Brighton forward Danny Welbeck (3 – level with Wilfried Zaha).
Match officials
Referee: Andre Marriner.
Assistants: Dan Robathan, Natalie Aspinall.
Fourth official: Chris Kavanagh.
VAR: Andy Madley.
Assistant VAR: Adam Nunn.