It’s Friday night football for Manchester United, as they’ll head to the Amex stadium for the first time to take on Brighton & Hove Albion. A win against Brighton will all but lock up second place in the Premier League this season, giving United a one-up on their arch-rivals Liverpool.
To be fair of course, Liverpool have their eyes on something bigger tonight. Getting back to United, they hold an overwhelming advantage in their all time series against the Seagulls (having won 12, lost only once and with five draws), hence they are heavily favored in this one, but they do have some injuries to deal with.
It all starts with striker Romelu Lukaku, who suffered an ankle injury against Arsenal. There is no stated time table for his return, but one should not expect him to feature in this one.
Phil Jones and Eric Bailly were both left out of the side that beat the Gunners 2-1, with Jones having reportedly suffered a knock. Not much is really known about his current status at this point. With Bailly, it just appears to be that he’s fallen out of favor, but he could be suffering from a knock as well- it’s just not confirmed as of now.
Backup goalkeeper Sergio Romero is still recovering from the knee injury that he suffered on the last international break.
For Brighton, Davy Propper returns, having served a three-match ban for a straight red card against Huddersfield Town. They can solidify staying up in the top flight with a victory here.
Odds: Man Utd 14/19, draw 3/1, Brighton 9/2
Mourinho press conference: coming tomorrow
MUFC Starting XI Prediction: go to this link
Prediction: United 3, 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.
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