Brighton & Hove Albion are to host
Manchester United at the Amex Stadium on SATURDAY LUNCHTIME and both teams will be keen on replicating their opening-weekend Pro Premier League wins.
The two teams came face to face only over three months after they ended the previous top-flight season on the South Coast, where the Red Devils emerged 2-0 winners after Diogo Dalot and Rasmus Hojlund played their part.
Some may have expected that Brighton could take some time to adapt to the new head coach Fabian Hurzeler, but they were off to a flyer in the 2024-25 season; they won rather emphatically 3-0 away from home against Everton, a team that was reduced to ten men last weekend.
Kaoru Mitoma opened the score in the first half while Danny Welbeck's spectacular equaliser came just ten minutes into the second half.
Substitute Simon Adingra then added insult to Everton's injury by scoring one more in the remaining minutes and it could have been 4-0 for the Seagulls had Yasin Ayari who had strayed offside, tapped into an empty net from a few yards.
Hurzeler is now the youngest Premier league manager, having been promoted at the age of just 31; while he admits he was delighted to make the perfect start to his stewardship, he is determined to remain
'grounded and has already stated his desire to seek advice from some of the older head such as James Milner, beginning his record-equalling 23rd season as a
Premiers League footballer.
Brighton began the new campaign on a high after achieving four wins from four preseason matches with nineteen goals and only three against including a 4-0 bashing of Villarreal first team at the Amex
Stadium.
While the Seagulls did surrender a defeat to Man United at home last season, they have come out victorious in each of their other four encounters in the course of five Premier League face-offs in the past; with a thumping 4-0 win at home in May 2022 and a similarly commanding 3-1 away triumph at Old Trafford only in September the previous year which should perhaps tell a tale for Hurzeler and co to
After the 1-0 defeat in the penalty shootout to rivals Manchester City in the Community Shield, Man United had to wait until the 72nd minute to secure all three points in the 1-0 victory over Fulham in the start of the new Premier League season on the last Friday.
The Red Devils were slow to get into the combative Championship tie but were able to gradually build into the game that saw the introduction of Joshua Zirkzee in the second half to score the only goal in the 88th minute.
The manager Erik ten Hag opined that victory over Fulham will only 'strengthen the belief and confidence within the group and has reminded the players to continue to develop as the year goes on if they intend to meet the set goals.
Before taking on Liverpool in September, they will end August with a Saturday visit to Brighton and will aim to make their first two games of a Premier League season the first time since 2017/18.
It is not always the sweet music at Amex
Stadium, though, as have lost 43% of prior
14 Premier League meetings with the Seagull -a record high for them against any other team within English top flight football.
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