Brighton humble Manchester United at home with 3-1 win

Manchester United’s poor start to the Premier League season continued as Brighton handed the Red Devils a comprehensive 3-1 defeat on their own turf. Goals from Danny Welbeck, Pascal Gross, and Joao Pedro gave the Seagulls their second consecutive win at Old Trafford, handing United their third defeat in five games to start the campaign.

Despite the final scoreline, United started brightly in front of their home support as summer signings Rasmus Hojlund and Sergio Reguilon made their full debuts. Marcus Rashford showed flashes of brilliance in the opening exchanges and was denied by the foot of Jason Steele inside six minutes. The winger also nearly found Hojlund with a dangerous cross across the six-yard box, showing signs of a burgeoning relationship between the pair.

However, all the attacking promise for the hosts was undone by a poor sequence of defending in the 20th minute, with Brighton carving through the United backline to open the scoring. Returning to his boyhood club, Danny Welbeck combined with Simon Adingra to score his fourth goal against his former side, lashing his shot past Andre Onana to give the away side the lead.

United kept up their attacking forays despite conceding, with Marcus Rashford playing a major role down the left wing to drive the hosts forward. The Red Devils thought they had equalised when Rasmus Hojlund picked up Rashford’s cross and slotted home, but a VAR check showed that the ball had gone out of play, denying the Dane a debut goal.

The missed chances came back to bite Erik ten Hag’s side in the second half as Brighton doubled their lead just eight minutes after the break. Pascal Gross finished off an expert team move, shimmying past Lisandro Martinez before firing his strike into the back of the net.

Loud boos rang around Old Trafford when Hojlund was replaced by Martial on 64 minutes, and United’s troubles compounded when Joao Pedro added a third. The Brazilian striker found himself unmarked in the penalty area and swept his shot past Andre Onana to put the visitors on course for another statement win.

Hannibal Mejbri gave the Red Devils a lifeline by pulling one back with a thunderous strike to score his maiden goal for the club. But Brighton saw out the game without any difficulty to take their fourth win of the season. United, meanwhile, remain in 13th place with six points from a possible 15.