Man Utd 3-1 Brighton highlights & report: Andreas Pereira and Marcus Rashford score for red Devils to move up into seventh
Manchester United bounced back from last week's loss at Bournemouth with an entertaining 3-1 victory over Brighton at Old Trafford.
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Goals from Andreas Pereira and Marcus Rashford, either side of a Davy Propper own goal, gave United all three points, with Lewis Dunk making it 2-1 but seeing United respond just two minutes later.
United duo Scott McTominay and Victor Lindelof overcame knocks as Brandon Williams made his full Premier League debut against Brighton.
Teenager Williams replaced suspended Ashley Young at left-back as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer made five alterations to the win against Partizan Belgrade, with David De Gea, Lindelof, Daniel James and Andreas Pereira the others brought in.
Brighton named Shane Duffy and Leandro Trossard in place of Adam Webster and Pascal Gross at Old Trafford.
United went ahead in the 16th minute when Pereira's effort deflected in, and then doubled their lead three minutes later when Davy Propper bundled the ball into his own net.
Lewis Dunk gave Brighton hope, halving the deficit in the 64th minute, but Marcus Rashford went up the other end and made it 3-1.
Manchester United closed out a 3-1 win over Brighton at Old Trafford, after a late injury to McTominay.
Match Reaction
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer: "Yeah, I think it's our best performance of the season. Of course you can go back to Chelsea but today I thought the reaction after they scored was fantastic.
"Sometimes this season we've asked that when you get one or two up to go for the next one... and how we didn't end up five, six, seven (today) I don't know, or we don't know, the players don't know.
"But exhilarating, entertaining and great to see the boys enjoy themselves.
"These six weeks or whatever it has been since the international break when we started against Liverpool, we had five wins and a defeat after the Liverpool game.
"Of course the Bournemouth game was disappointing but we've had loads of answers to what we're trying to do and if we don't get confidence from this, I don't know what to tell them."
On 19-year-old Brandon Williams, Solskjaer added: "Brandon was excellent. He's played well before but of course the first start at Old Trafford in a Premier League is always... you don't know how he's going to react, but he seems like he's looking forward.
"I told him on Thursday 'just look forward to this one'. I thought it was more fair to him that he didn't play on Thursday. An excellent performance.
"He's done nothing wrong since he's come into the team. He's making it hard for me to leave him out, definitely.
"He's really, really impressed me, I have to say. He's definitely making it hard for me to leave him out."
On Scott McTominay's injury: "He went over on his ankle. It's a painful one. Sometimes that's... I've had one and I was out for eight weeks. But then again sometimes you're back in two weeks, so I don't know. He's in for a scan tomorrow... but it looked painful and he's not one for rolling around."
Manchester United 3-1 Brighton & Hove Albion Opta stats
- Manchester United are unbeaten in their last seven games at Old Trafford across all competitions (W4 D3 L0); their longest run under the same manager since March 2018, when they went eight without defeat under José Mourinho.
- Brighton haven’t won any of their 15 Premier League away games against “big six” opposition (W0 D1 L14), scoring just four goals and conceding 33 in return.
- Davy Pröpper’s own goal saw Manchester United take a 2-0 lead in the 19th minute (18:50); the quickest they’ve been two-nil up in a Premier League game at Old Trafford since May 2017 against Crystal Palace (18:15).
- Since the start of the 2017-18 season, Brighton have scored more own goals than any other team in the Premier League (seven).
- Marcus Rashford scored his 30th goal for Manchester United at Old Trafford, with six of those having come in 2019-20 - only in 2017-18 has he netted more home goals in a single season for the club (nine).
- Manchester United forward Anthony Martial has been directly involved in eight goals in his last 10 starts at Old Trafford across all competitions, scoring four and providing four assists.
- Manchester United named the youngest starting line-up a Premier League game this season (23y 350d), and their youngest since a 2-0 win over Crystal Palace back in May 2017 (22y 284d).
- Brandon Williams became only the second player born in the 2000s to start a Premier League match for Manchester United, following Mason Greenwood.
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