Brighton strike late to inflict damaging defeat on Ten Hag’s Man Utd

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LONDON – Joao Pedro’s 95th minute header handed Brighton a 2-1 win over Manchester United on Saturday as 31-year-old boss Fabian Hurzeler enjoyed a dream home Premier League debut.
United looked to have snatched a point when Amad Diallo’s deflected effort cancelled out Danny Welbeck’s first half opener for Brighton.
The visitors could even have won it had Alejandro Garnacho’s effort not clipped team-mate Joshua Zirkzee, who was in an offside position, just before the ball crossed the line.
Instead it is Brighton who have a maximum six points from their opening two games under Hurzeler as Pedro was left completely unmarked to head in Simon Adingra’s cross deep into stoppage time.
Defeat puts the spotlight back on United boss Erik ten Hag with Liverpool set to visit Old Trafford next weekend.
Ten Hag survived at the end of last season, despite finishing eighth in the Premier League, thanks to winning the FA Cup.
The former Ajax coach got a much-needed 1-0 win against Fulham to open the season last weekend thanks to Zirkzee’s late winner.
But the performances in both United’s first two league matches of the new campaign have done little to suggest there will be a marked improvement from a dismal season in 2023/24.
Ten Hag kept faith with the side that started against Fulham with Zirkzee and Garnacho again only used as impact substitutes.
Brighton thrashed Everton 3-0 away in Hurzeler’s first match in charge and showed they will be a contender to get back into European football next season.
The Seagulls took the lead on 32 minutes when Harry Maguire failed to cut out a dangerous cross and Kaoru Mitoma rolled the ball back across goal for Welbeck to tap in for his 100th career goal.
Within seconds the visitors thought they were level when Marcus Rashford bundled in at the back post after Jason Steele brilliantly saved his initial effort.
However, the offside flag denied the England international.
Brighton flew out of the traps after the break but failed to build on their advantage.
James Milner had an effort cleared off the line by Diogo Dalot before Welbeck headed off the bar.
United had barely been in the Brighton half since the restart until Diallo drove forward, cut inside onto his left foot and found the net via a deflection off Jan Paul van Hecke.
Zirkzee had replaced Mason Mount at the break but after a hero’s debut the Dutchman was the villain for what should have been a second United goal.
In a blistering counter-attack, Diallo fed Bruno Fernandes and his low cross was fired goalwards by Garnacho.
However, the ball clipped Zirkzee’s knee on its way in and the forward was ruled offside after a VAR review.
That proved to be the turning point as it was Brighton who got the decisive third goal.
Questions will be asked of United’s defending as Pedro easily pulled away from Scott McTominay and Matthijs de Ligt to find the space to head back across Andre Onana into the far corner.
By Kieran Canning