Brighton stun Man Utd late on to maintain winning start

Joao Pedro scored a stoppage-time winner to snatch a 2-1 victory for Brighton & Hove Albion over Manchester United at the AMEX Stadium.

It looked like the points were set to be shared on Saturday after United duo Marcus Rashford and Joshua Zirkzee both had goals ruled out for offside, the latter in freakish circumstances.

But it was Fabian Hurzeler’s side who dug deep and made it two wins from as many matches in a fine start to the Premier League season, with Joao Pedro sneaking in behind Man Utd’s defence to head past Andre Onana in the fifth minute of second-half stoppage time.

Danny Welbeck’s first-half strike had put the hosts ahead before Amad restored parity after the break.

Joao Pedro’s decisive intervention means Brighton have continued their winning start to the season, while United will hope to show a reaction against Liverpool next Sunday.

How the match unfolded

Brighton’s patient approach paid off in the 32nd minute as Kaoru Mitoma latched onto Joao Pedro’s cross and fizzed it into the middle for Welbeck to poke home from close range.

Just seconds later, United were denied an equaliser. After Jason Steele brilliantly saved Rashford’s first effort, he could not keep out the second but the assistant referee flagged for offside, with VAR confirming the decision.

James Milner thought he had capitalised on a quick start to the second half, only to see his effort swept off the line by the covering Diogo Dalot before Welbeck thumped a towering header off the crossbar.

Against the run of play, Amad pulled United level when he kept himself onside and sharply cut inside from the right before getting some fortune as his low strike deflected in off Jan Paul van Hecke. Amad celebrated by pointing to the sky in tribute to his stepmother, who passed away on Friday.

Alejandro Garnacho thought he had scored a 70th-minute winner, but with his shot helped over the line by an offside Zirkzee, the on-field decision was overturned following a VAR review.

Brighton pushed for a goal in the closing stages and finally got their reward as substitute Simon Adingra picked out an unmarked Joao Pedro to head home from the far post.

Welbeck haunts his former club

Any Brighton fans worried that their team would take time to adapt to life under Hurzeler have had those concerns brushed aside.

While they did look susceptible to a high turnover at times as United started on the front foot with their high press, it was the hosts’ quality in the final third that turned the tide.

And it was a familiar face who punished United with a simple finish in the first half as Welbeck scored the 100th goal of his club career in all competitions, and his sixth against his former side Man Utd.

The striker had more opportunities to extend Brighton’s lead after the break, hitting the bar and also sending another header straight into Onana’s gloves, before United fought their way back into the contest and equalised.

It did not matter in the end though, as Brighton showed their fight by keeping the pressure on throughout seven minutes of stoppage time.

Hurzeler can take plenty of confidence and positives from this late show, especially with a trip to Arsenal up next before the international break.

United’s dynamism fizzles out

Leading up to this match, Erik ten Hag spoke of his ambition to make United more dynamic and aggressive as they looked to build on their late opening-day win over Fulham.

It looked like his players had taken that message to heart as they started on the front foot, with Bruno Fernandes tirelessly leading the press from the front as he played in an unfamiliar striker role once again.

They had chances in the first half, failing to hit the target more often than not as the frustration among the away fans grew, though it could have been a different story if Rashford had timed his run for the first of two disallowed goals for Man Utd.

However, United faded and Ten Hag’s substitutions did not pay off in the same way they did against Fulham.

United’s threat from the wide areas proved constant though, with Dalot and Noussair Mazraoui – who got the assist for Amad’s goal – happy to provide the width before a lack of concentration right at the end proved costly as Brighton got the better of them for a fifth time in six matches.

Club reports

Brighton report | Man Utd report

What the managers said

Fabian Hurzeler: “It was very emotional, always when you get the win in the last minute it is. I think we deserved to win, we had a good game not a perfect game. There were also situations where United had the chance to win the game.”

Erik Ten Hag: “When you should have taken at least a draw, we could have won as well if that goal from Joshua Zirkzee, if that incident counts.”

Next Premier League fixtures

Key facts

Since the start of 2017/18 – Brighton’s first Premier League campaign – only Manchester City (8) have picked up more top-flight victories against Manchester United than the Seagulls (7).

Since 2022/23, Man Utd have lost more Premier League matches thanks to goals scored in the 90th minute than any other side (6); they’d only lost two such encoutners in the first 30 campaigns in the competition combined.

Through Alexis Mac Allister’s winner in May 2023 (98:17) and Joao Pedro’s winner today (94:25), Brighton became just the second team to score multiple 90th minute winners against Man Utd in the Premier League along with Arsenal (3).

Mazraoui setting up Amad for Manchester United’s equaliser was the first time two African players have combined for a Premier League goal for the Red Devils.