Brighton continued their impressive start to the season as they thrashed Manchester United 3-1 at Old Trafford on Saturday afternoon.

The visitors completely outplayed Erik ten Hag’s side who looked out of sorts and struggled to get any hold of the game over the course of ninety minutes. This was Brighton’s fourth straight win over the Red Devils.

Former United striker Danny Welbeck opened the scoring in the 20th minute. A free-flowing move from Roberto De Zerbi’s side saw Simon Adingra square it off for Welbeck who slotted in first time from ten yards out.

The hosts came close to restoring parity in the 34th minute but Marcus Rashford’s shot struck the post. Just minutes later, new signing Rasmus Hojlund had the ball in the back of the net but the goal was ruled out by VAR as the ball had gone out of play in the buildup.

Brighton held on to their slender lead going into the halftime break.

Brighton tore United apart after the break

United hardly improved after the break as Brighton doubled their lead just eight minutes after the break. Kaoru Mitoma and Tariq Lamptey combined on the left wing before releasing Pascal Gross whBrightoo took advantage of poor United defending to make it 2-0.

Substitute Joao Pedro then put the game beyond United as he picked out the far corner with a delightful finish to make it 3-0 and United were well and truly beaten. Just two minutes later, United reduced the deficit when Hannibal Mejbri scored with a brilliant strike.

Brighton created several opportunities and could have scored even more on the day had it not been for Andre Onana who made a string of several fine saves to keep the score respectable. This was the Seagulls’ fourth win in five games, and they will now look to keep up the momentum when they host Bournemouth in their next assignment.

For United, it’s back to the drawing board for United and ten Hag who have lost both their last two games and have 6 points from their opening five games. The Red Devils will look to bounce back when they travel to Burnley next weekend.

Photo credit: IMAGO / Colorsport