Manchester United
There’s no denying United are unstable at the moment. It’s not like this is the first time they’ve sacked a manager mid-season. However, doing it on the cusp of the FA Cup’s third round is pretty chaotic even by their standards.
Leadership turmoil aside, missing Bruno Fernandes through injury is a massive blow for United too, given how reliant they’ve been on his creativity. With Bryan Mbeumo and Amad Diallo away at AFCON, they’re lacking real pace on the wings too.
The only bright spark for the hosts is Benjamin Sesko, who nabbed two goals against Burnley and looks to be really hitting his stride. United’s success in this fixture pivots heavily around their ability to keep him involved - which will be tough, given how light they are in the midfield at the moment.
That said, I’ve been checking out the latest football betting markets and the money is moving towards a tight game.
Team News: Fernandes and Matthijs de Ligt are out, while Mbeumo and Diallo are on international duty.
Predicted Lineup: Lammens; Dalot, Martinez, Heaven, Shaw; Casemiro, Ugarte; Dorgu, Cunha, Rashford; Sesko.
Brighton
Brighton come into this clash riding a wave of confidence, sitting 11th in the league and having just taken a point off City. They’re playing some risky football, but it’s been clicking the past few weeks.
Kaoru Mitoma is the danger man here. He’s going to have a field day running at United’s fullbacks, and with Danny Welbeck always keen to score against his old club, they’ve got plenty of goal-scoring threats. Brighton are clinical, disciplined, and have a great record at Old Trafford recently. I reckon they’ll fancy their chances of an upset here.
Team News: Adam Webster, Solly March, and Mats Wieffer are out. Carlos Baleba is at AFCON.
Predicted Lineup: Verbruggen; Hinshelwood, Dunk, Van Hecke, De Cuyper; Gross, Ayari; Gomez, Mitoma, Kadioglu; Rutter.
