The new Premier League season is upon us. The fight for points begins on Sunday when Manchester United play host to Brighton.
New manager Erik ten Hag will have learned more about his players during the pre-season tour, but now it’s time to knuckle down and start his revolution as the competitive campaign kicks-off.
The former Ajax manager may be new to the Premier League and someone should warn him quickly that we shouldn’t overestimate teams like Brighton – or any team in the top-flight for that matter.
We don’t want a repeat of last season’s 4-0 defeat at the American Express Community Stadium. United will be hoping for a better outcome as well as Casino Bonuses to keep the wallet heavy.
Manchester United vs Brighton team news
Ten Hag will settle on a formation over the coming weeks; however, he trialed a 4-2-3-1 set-up on tour and our attacking players combined brilliantly. That said, there’s still room for improvement as United lacked a truly clinical striker on tour.
The Red Devils have signed three players so far this summer. All three – Tyrell Malacia, Christian Eriksen and Lisandro Martinez – could start this weekend. I suspect we’ll see Malacia at right back, Martinez alongside Harry Maguire at centre-back and Christian Eriksen in midfield.
United’s failure to sign Frenkie de Jong yet means we could see Scott McTominay and Fred in midfield again. The old ‘McFred’ partnership is alive and well!
However, Anthony Martial will miss the game due to injury, while Jadon Sancho has returned from illness. It remains to be seen if Ten Hag will start Cristiano Ronaldo after his recent comments.
Probable Manchester United line-up: David de Gea; Diogo Dalot, Harry Maguire, Lisandro Martinez, Tyrell Malacia, Scott McTominay, Fred, Jadon Sancho, Bruno Fernandes, Alejandro Garnacho, Marcus Rashford.
Meanwhile, Brighton look weaker than last season, having lost their man-in-the-middle Yves Bissouma to Tottenham Hotspur in the transfer window. They could also lose last season’s Player of the Year, Marc Cucurella, who went from being linked to Man City to Chelsea in the past week.
Probable Brighton line-up: Sanchez, Veltman, Dunk, Webster, Lamptey, Mwepu, Alzate, Gross, Mac Allister, Trossard, Maupay.
Manchester United vs Brighton prediction
I fancy a 3-0 win this weekend and Ten Hag to get a comfortable win in his first Premier League game. That would be nice, wouldn’t it? At least it would silence the doubters for a while.
David de Gea will be aiming for more clean sheets this term and we should see the team perform better as a defensive unit.
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