Given how Manchester United have a perfect record all time (six meetings) against Brighton & Hove Albion in the FA Cup competition, perhaps this is the exact right opponent in the exact right tournament at this juncture. That’s because United are coming off a complete disaster Tuesday night, as they crashed out of the UEFA Champions League 2-1 (2-1 on aggregate) at the hands of Sevilla.
United and their manager Jose Mourinho are under such heavy criticism right now that they need any kind of positive result they can muster. This contest completes a home stand trifecta against three different competitions. The Red Devils beat arch-rival Liverpool last Saturday, before falling in midweek. If they win against Brighton tomorrow, well as Meatloaf “two out of three ain’t bad.”
Looking at the injury and fitness situations, United will be without Daley Blind (ankle) and Ander Herrera (thigh), due to injury. Zlatan Ibrahimovic is also probably not yet match fit yet. The same is likely true for defenders Phil Jones and Marcos Rojo.
As for the Seagulls, they will be sans without Steve Sidwell (back), Jiri Skalak (ankle) and Isaiah Brown (knee).
Odds: Man Utd 1/3, draw 4/1, Brighton 9/1
Mourinho press conference: go to this link
MUFC Starting XI Prediction: go to this link
Prediction: United 2, Brighton 0
As always feel free to post your own MUFC starting XI and match score predictions in the comments section below.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and the Tribune company’s blogging community Chicago Now.
Follow him on Twitter, Instagram, Sound Cloud, LinkedIn and YouTube.