Manchester United vs Brighton: FA Cup Match Preview and Predictions

It’s fair to say that the FA Cup is all what is left of this season for United to win a trophy. While there is a difference between 2nd, 3rd and 4th place in the Premier League standings in terms of money and in terms of the draw for next year’s Champions League competition, for United, it’s all the same. You either get 1st place or you don’t. It’s not an achievement to finish 2nd or to reach the quarter finals. For the biggest club in the world, an achievement is to win it all.

They should go into this weekend’s FA Cup game against Chris Hughton’a in-form Brighton outfit with that kind of mentality and with the sole purpose of getting the job done and securing a trophy from what is left of this season. It should not matter if after Brighton, Mourinho’s side faces Chelsea or Spurs.

All that should matter is taking back the Cup from Arsenal who won it last year. As extra motivation, Mourinho should remind his players that the Gunners are now leading the FA Cup trophy count with 13 wins in the final compared to United’s 12 wins.

The Old Trafford side were lucky enough to have an easy path towards this stage of the competition and have not conceded any goals up until now. Hopefully things will stay the same. The need to forget what happened in the Champions League against Sevilla and they need to find the power to push through.

Again, this game should not be that difficult for United who haven’t lost a game against Brighton since the ’82-’83 season. Hopefully they will maintain that record and win the FA Cup final regardless of who they will be facing.

Fortunately enough, injuries will not pay an important role in the way Mourinho picks the starting eleven. Aside from your regular absentees – Ibrahimovic, Blind and Jones – everyone should be available including Rojo and Herrera. The two might not be fit for a full 90 minutes but still, they will be part of the squad.

Here is how United might line up based on this season’s FA Cup encounters:

Romero

Shaw-Lindelof-Smalling-Darmian

McTominay-Matic-Pogba

Sanchez-Lukaku-Mata

Given how the week has gone with the loss to Sevilla United must win so we predict a 3-1 win at Old Trafford.