Man U vs. Brighton
Venue: Old Trafford
Kick off: 4PM
Manchester United welcome Brighton & Hove Albion to Old Trafford on Saturday afternoon, targeting all three points to keep the pressure alive on Premier League pacesetters Manchester City.
The Red Devils are in the midst of a busy run of fixtures between now and the New Year, as they remain on course for success at home and in Europe despite defeat to Basel in midweek.
With seven successive league wins at Old Trafford, and 12 victories on the spin in all competitions here, United can boast their best run of home form since March 2013 when legendary boss Sir Alex Ferguson was still at the helm.
Going further back, the 13-times Premier League champions are unbeaten in a record 38 games at Old Trafford since going down 2-1 to Man City in September 2016, although 10 draws here last term proved to be their undoing as they finished in a lowly sixth place.
At least two goals have been scored in six of their last seven here, while United have also scored exactly four times on seven occasions overall this campaign – further ammunition for Jose Mourinho to use when hitting back at his critics.
The bottom line remains the same on the back of the 1-0 loss against Basel, though – the Red Devils are not as efficient as their city rivals, and any further slip-up domestically could very well prove fatal to their hopes of a first title in the post-Ferguson era.
Brighton make the 258-mile trek north today on a good run of form, having gone five matches unbeaten since defeat away to Arsenal on October 1.
Not bad going for a side many backed for an immediate return to the second tier, and boss Chris Hughton is deserving of huge credit for not only making his side hard to beat, but also carving out key victories along the way.
Albion have yet to win successive league games since returning to the top tier, ending their 34-year wait thanks to the work of Hughton last season, although with a third of this campaign played they are closer to the top six than the bottom three.
Man U possible XI: De Gea, Valencia, Smalling, Rojo, Young, Matic, Pogba, Martial, Mata, Rashford, Lukaku.
Brighton possible XI: Ryan, Bruno, Duffy, Dunk, Bong, Knockaert, Stephens, Propper, Izquierdo, Gross, Murray.