It's a strange quirk of fate that, four days after they met in the Premier League, the Red Devils should square off against the Seagulls once again in knockout competition. It's an even stranger twist of history that they should do so after the former snatched an arguably undeserving victory from the jaws of defeat after the final whistle - and that's sure to play into the mindsets of both sides tonight.
To refresh those memories, Graham Potter's tenacious hosts outgunned Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's visitors for the vast majority of a match which they had been unlucky to go behind in on Saturday - and they looked to have salvaged a point for their superior possession, pass ratio and shots on goal when Solly March scored deep in injury time. But a controversial VAR call after the final whistle had gone handed United a penalty to snag three points through Bruno Fernandes' spot-kick - and pick up their first league win of the season in due course.
It's fair to say then that it has not been the smoothest of starts Solskjaer would have hoped for to the new campaign, on the back of an opening loss to Crystal Palace. The Norwegian still has the backing of the board, if not quite the transfer clout - Jadon Sancho still eludes the grasp of United - and he's shown enough to promise to suggest he has the chops. But fast approaching two years in the gig, he's yet to taste silverware - and questions could be asked as to whether he has reached his ceiling at the club.
Potter meanwhile steered Albion to their joint-best Premier League finish in his first season in charge and the grit shown by his side at the weekend suggests they can take it to the top half of the table this term. Just whether a major cup scalp will help or hinder their league ambitions - they are likely still earmarked for a proverbial scrap at the bottom despite good early signs - remains to be seen.
It would be easier to name the one player who is still in United's starting XI from their visit here a few days ago rather than who is out; Victor Lindelof is the lone man to keep his spot as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer goes for a full overhaul. The biggest news however is that Bruno Fernandes is AWOL entirely - the Portuguese does not make the bench. Brighton make nine changes; Graham Potter keeps Lewis Dunk and Ben White at the back.
BRIGHTON & HOVE ALBION (3-4-3): Jason Steele; Dan Burn, Ben White, Lewis Dunk; Joel Veltman, Jayson Molumby, Pascal Gross, Bernardo, Alireza Jahanbakhsh, Viktor Gyokeres, Alexis Mac Allister.
Subs: Neal Maupay, Leandro Trossard, Robert Sanchez, Max Sanders, Alex Cochrane, Haydon Roberts, Teddy Jenks.
MANCHESTER UNITED (4-2-3-1): Dean Henderson; Diogo Dalot, Eric Bailly, Victor Lindelof, Brandon Williams; Scott McTominay, Fred; Juan Mata, Donny van de Beek, Daniel James; Odion Ighalo.
Subs: Paul Pogba, Marcus Rashford, Mason Greenwood, Lee Grant, Jesse Lingard, Timothy Fosu-Mensah, Teden Mengi.
It'll be another cup start for United's star signing of the window Donny van de Beek today, having seen relatively limited time in the Premier League so far. He's taken Bruno Fernandes' position on the teamsheet - but can he be expected to play just as much of an impact role there? Eyes will be on his manager's tactics once again.
These sides have struck up some regular encounters in the top-flight in recent years, but it's been almost thirty years since they last crossed swords in the EFL Cup. You've got to go back to 1992 to find when United and Albion last faced off in this competition - when John Major was in 10 Downing Street and Ebeneezer Goode by The Shamen was atop the charts. In a two-legged second round tie, it was Alex Ferguson's side who came through - though they were duly knocked out by Aston Villa in the following stage.
COMMENTS