Manchester United team news: Fati and Ferguson could feature

Albion will look to make it four wins from their opening five Premier League games when they take on Manchester United this Saturday, kick-off 3pm.

Thumping wins over Luton Town, Wolves and Newcastle has left Roberto De Zerbi’s team sit sixth in the table, with the 3-1 home defeat to West Ham the only blemish so far.

Team news

Roberto De Zerbi has said that Ansu Fati is ready to play against Manchester United, while Evan Ferguson will be assessed closer to the game having not been able to play during the international break for the Republic of Ireland.

"Evan started training with us yesterday, he’s not in the best condition. We will see this afternoon and tomorrow morning [how he is] and decide. It was just a tackle [not a muscle injury].

"Estupinan and Buonanotte are tired because they had a long travel.

"Tomorrow I don’t know if Ansu Fati starts or comes on in the second half. Logically it’s difficult at the beginning after one week, three or four training sessions to understand everything. I would like to give much time to understand. But first of all I want him to show his quality.

"I told him I want him to enjoy himself. I don’t want to put any pressure on Ansu."

How to follow the game

Our Live Match Centre will bring you all the news during the build-up, during the game and post-match.

You can also listen to live commentary on MyAlbion TV and there will be coverage across all our social media channels.

Player to watch

Striker Rasmus Hojlund, 20, arrived from Atalanta in August and made his debut at the beginning of this month in United’s defeat to Arsenal. Having scored nine Serie A goals last season for Atalanta, the 6ft 3in forward will be aiming to be the physical presence up front that Saturday’s hosts have been craving.

Past meetings

In our history against United, we’ve won just six of our 31 meetings. However, three of those have come in our last four games including the 2-1 victory at Old Trafford on the opening day last season. Our most recent match against United was at The Amex in May, when Alexis Mac Allister’s last-minute penalty secured a huge three points in our charge for a top six finish.

Stats and facts

Manchester United lost this exact fixture 2-1 on the opening weekend last season, having won eight and drawn one of their nine previous home league games against Albion.

Albion have won their last three league games against Manchester United, as many as they had in their first 17 against them (D2 L12).

Manchester United have only lost four consecutive Premier League games against an opponent twice previously, doing so against Liverpool (Dec 2000 – Jan 2002) and Man City (Apr 2013 – Nov 2014).

Manchester United have lost two of their four Premier League games this season (W2), having only lost two of their final 11 league games of last term (W8 D1). Defeat to Albion would see the Red Devils suffer as many as three defeats in their first five matches of a league campaign for the first time since 1989-90 under Alex Ferguson.

After winning 4-1 at Wolves last month, Albion are looking for successive Premier League away wins for the first time since a run of three from November-January last season. The Seagulls have scored at least once in each of their last 15 away league matches, with the club record for this standing at 16 games, achieved in League One from August 2009 to February 2010.

United have won each of their last eight Premier League games at Old Trafford, while they last enjoyed a longer home winning run in the competition in March 2013 (12) en route to winning their last league title under Alex Ferguson.

Brighton have recorded more high turnovers than any side in the Premier League this season (49), also having more shots from such situations than anyone else (13). They also have the lowest PPDA average (passes per defensive action outside of the pressing team’s defensive third) of any side in the Premier League this term (8.7).

Excluding own goals, Bruno Fernandes has either scored (4) or assisted (2) six of Manchester United’s last eight Premier League goals against Brighton (75%). Indeed, only against Aston Villa and Leeds (both 6) has the Portugal international scored more goals in the competition than he has against the Seagulls (4).

No player has assisted more goals in the Premier League this season than Brighton’s Kaoru Mitoma (3), whose 14 chances created from open play are the most of any player this term. Seven of his chances created have come following a ball carry (moving 5+ metres with the ball), also the most of any player.

Among players with 5+ non-penalty Premier League goals since the start of last season, only Erling Haaland (92) and Roberto Firmino (110) have a better mins/non-penalty goal rate than Brighton’s 18-year-old Evan Ferguson (116). Indeed, the only players to score more goals overall in the competition while aged 18 or below than the Irishman’s 10 are Michael Owen (28), Wayne Rooney (15), and Francis Jeffers (12).

Match officials

Referee: Jarred Gillett

Assistants: Neil Davies, Darren Cann

Fourth official: Simon Hooper

VAR: Chris Kavanagh

Assistant VAR: Matthew Wilkes