Manchester United vs Brighton and Hove Albion. Premier League.
Old TraffordAttendance75,018.
Saturday 25 November 2017 13:53, UK
Manchester United will again be without defenders Eric Bailly and Phil Jones when they host Brighton on Saturday.
The injured duo missed last weekend's 4-1 home win over Newcastle as well as the midweek Champions League defeat to Basel.
However, United were boosted by the return of Marcos Rojo against Basel, and he looks set to feature again as Jose Mourinho's aim to close the gap on Premier League leaders Manchester City, who play Huddersfield on Nissan Super Sunday.
United are eight points behind City, but Mourinho said: "We haven't reached 50 per cent of the season yet so let's be calm. We have four competitions to play and let's go step by step, match after match."
Brighton travel to Old Trafford in good form having not lost a game since October 1.
The newly-promoted Seagulls have won two and drawn three of their previous five matches to move up to ninth in the Premier League.
"These are the days you've worked so hard for as a team and it's what we got promoted for," said Brighton boss Chris Hughton. "What we hope to do is to make a good account of ourselves there and we hope we can do that."
Rojo played the entirety of the midweek Champions League trip to Basel after 216 days out following a serious knee injury and his match fitness will be assessed ahead of Saturday.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic is not yet ready to start, while captain Michael Carrick remains sidelined. Ashley Young, Juan Mata and Antonio Valencia did not travel to Basel.
Brighton have no fresh injury worries to contend with for the trip to Old Trafford.
Israel midfielder Beram Kayal will travel with squad after recovering from the broken leg he suffered in pre-season, although Steve Sidwell misses out again with a back problem.
This will be the first top-flight meeting between these sides since March 1983, when they drew 1-1 at Old Trafford.
Brighton won only one of their 16 meetings in all competitions with Man Utd (D5 L10), with that sole victory coming in a home game in November 1982.
This will be the 82nd different fixture to have been played in both the Premier League and as an FA Cup final.
Manchester United's only home defeat against a team in their debut Premier League season came in 1996-97, losing 2-3 against Derby County. Indeed, United have won their last 18 home Premier League games against sides in their debut Premier League season.
Brighton are doing OK, but I just think Man Utd are a different animal with Paul Pogba back, they're a better team. They looked very good for 60 minutes against Newcastle.
I know they lost in Basel, but I just think Pogba gives them that something more. I think they'll have too much power in midfield for Brighton at Old Trafford.
PAUL PREDICTS: 3-0 (5/1 with Sky Bet)
Manchester United are Sky Bet's 1/5 favourites for the victory with Brighton up against odds of 16/1, while the draw is priced at 5/1. Romelu Lukaku and Zlatan Ibrahimovic share favouritism in the first goalscorer betting at 11/4 apiece, with Glenn Murray and Tomer Hemed both 12/1 shots from the visitors' side of the market.
Man Utd v Brighton is included in this weekend's Super 6, with £250,000 up for grabs for predicting six correct scores.
