Talking points ahead of Man United’s trip to Brighton and Hove Albion | OneFootball

Manchester United travel to Brighton this afternoon with the objective of bettering Newcastle United’s result versus Brentford.

If the Magpies fail to win, a victory for the Red Devils would see them seal seventh place in the Premier League this season.

This will be only the 33rd match ever between the Red Devils and the Seagulls, with the side from Old Trafford winning 20 and losing seven. The other five have ended all square.

The match will bring to an end to what has been a chaotic and painful Premier League season, where Erik ten Hag’s men will finish with a negative goal difference for the first time ever unless they produce an unlikely victory by four clear goals at the Amex stadium.

The fixture has also taken on some more significance as it was shockingly reported announced yesterday that it would be Brighton manager, Roberto De Zerbi’s last match in charge of the south coast side.

Here are some plotlines the travelling away fans will be sinking their teeth into on the 260 mile trip down to Brighton from Manchester.

Can United secure European football via the league?

Manchester United have qualified for Europe every season since the 2013/2014 season under David Moyes. Were they to miss out today, it would represent the first time in a decade they haven’t qualified for some sort of European football.

Even if they were to fail in their mission today, there is the FA Cup final, where victory would not only see them take the famous old trophy back to Manchester but it would also secure them a spot in the Europa League for next season.

United cannot overtake Chelsea in sixth place due to the huge disparity in goal difference between the two, so seventh is as high as they can go.

This would secure Conference League football for the first time in the club’s history and whilst some fans may feel it is beneath the club, others may feel it would represent a chance to blood some of the side’s talented youngsters and give the Old Trafford side a real chance of winning a trophy.

Can Erik ten Hag’s first choice back centre back partnership finally play together?

Whilst the coach and the players must certainly shoulder much blame for this disastrous league season, it must also be mentioned that they have been desperately hampered by injuries.

The central defensive areas have been the hardest hit areas as Jonny Evans and Casemiro started the crunch encounter against Newcastle midweek.

However, The Peoples Person predicts that both Raphael Varane and Lisandro Martinez will start this game after long injury lay-offs.

It would be an important test before the cup final, where it would be a massive boost to start those two together to face the challenge of Manchester City.

In addition, it would give Varane a start on his last ever league match for the club as it has been announced that he is leaving at the end of his contract.

A back four of Diogo Dalot, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Martinez and Varane is as close as United can get to their first choice back four with Luke Shaw still out and would be a welcome sight for fans of the club.

Avoiding a fifth consecutive league defeat versus Brighton

As mentioned previously, United have dominated this fixture historically but it has been all one way traffic as of late and not in the Red Devils’ favour.

In fact, you need to go back to February 2022 for the last league win United had against the Seagulls, a 2-0 triumph at Old Trafford.

United did win last year’s FA Cup semi-final but only on penalties after drawing 0-0.

The Red Devils’ last victories at the Amex were in quick succession in September 2020, when they won 3-2 in the league and 3-0 in the League Cup in the space of five days.

In the most recent four league matches however, the Seagulls have scored 10 goals to United’s two, including two victories at Old Trafford.

If Brighton were to win today, they would become the first team to beat United in five consecutive league games since Norwich City did so between 1988 and 1990.

The action will kick off at 4pm UK time in what promises to be a fascinating last day of Premier League action.

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