United scrape past Brighton to maintain perfect home record

The rain was falling heavily in Manchester which undoubtedly had an effect on the game, with the opening stages very stop-start and both defences on top.

Romelu Lukaku played a one-two with Anthony Martial and had a decent shooting opportunity but skied his effort high and wide in the opening minutes.

Brighton were assured in defence and dominant in midfield and the first shot on target came to the visitors, as Bruno pulled the ball back towards Pascal Gross on the edge of the area, but his low effort was easily saved by David De Gea.

Knockaert was battling with Ashley Young on the right flank and the Brighton winger largely came out on top in the first half. He burst down the wing on a number of occasions and flashed the ball dangerously across the goal once, and tried to set up Gross after a counter attack later, but both opportunities came to nothing.

Paul Pogba was United’s main man on his return from injury last week against Newcastle, but the Frenchman was struggling to get into the game as Brighton’s three man midfield of Gross, Davy Propper and Dale Stephens were frustrating the Red Devils in the middle of the park.

Despite this, the best chance of the half did come to Jose Mourinho’s side seconds before the interval, but they were denied by a super double save from Mathew Ryan. The Brighton stopper kept out a Lukaku header from the back post after a brilliant cross from Marcus Rashford, before keeping out Pogba from point blank range on the rebound.

After the break it was the visitors who started the brighter, as Gross sent a cross in for Glenn Murray, but the striker tried an audacious flick and missed the ball

As United struggled to make an impact, Jose Mourinho opted for a change on the hour mark, bringing on Zlatan Ibrahimovic in place of Juan Mata, which provoked a strong positive reaction from the home crowd.

The Swedish striker was involved straight away and was almost involved in a goal but his low cross was directed behind for a corner, which came to nothing for the hosts.

Three minutes later, United broke the deadlock and it was in very fortuitous circumstances. A corner was headed to the edge of the box to Young, who took a touch before firing goalwards, and his effort deflected off Dunk and looped over Ryan and into the goal to give United the lead.

Lukaku almost made it two in as many minutes but he headed just over the crossbar after a cross from Antonio Valencia.

The game was very open and Brighton were far from out of it, as Knockaert and Bruno both sent inviting balls into the area but luckily for United, no Brighton player was on hand inside the box to convert the crosses.

Much like in the previous game against Newcastle, Ibrahimovic came close to scoring a superb goal as he played a quick one-two with Lukaku on the edge of the area before firing goalwards, but his effort was just wide of the post.

United managed to hold on for the remainder of the game and secure a slightly fortunate 1-0 win.

Jose Mourinho, however, won’t care about the nature of the victory as his side move three points closer to Manchester City at the top of the table, with their local rivals travelling to Huddersfield on Sunday.

Although it could be argued that Brighton deserved something from this game, United’s home record is indisputable as they have now gone 39 games in all competitions without defeat at Old Trafford.

Chris Hughton will be disappointed with the result but can take plenty of positives from the his side’s performance, and they still sit safely in mid-table with one third of the season now behind them.