Joao Pedro secured all three points for Brighton in a 2-1 win at the Amex Stadium in the 95th minute. United, on the other hand, did not follow up on the last mutual duel from the end of last season, and with the home selection they fell for the third time in the last four meetings.
Both teams started the competition last weekend with victories, Brighton beat Everton 3-0, United won over Fulham thanks to a late goal. Even on the south coast, it was the home side who started the better, with Joao Pedro’s first effort from outside the penalty area coming around the 10th minute.
The stalemate ended after more than half an hour. The ball found its way to Kaoru Mitoma at the back post and his low pass was cleared into the net by former United player Danny Welbeck. Erik ten Haga’s men could have equalized shortly after, but Marcus Rashford was found to be in an offside position when he fired the ball into the net from close range at the second attempt.
United didn’t offer much for the rest of the first half. After switching sides, they were lucky not to be two goals down when Welbeck’s header hit the crossbar from close range. In the end, however, the guests started to show their class and equalized with about 30 minutes to go. A clever cross from Noussair Mazraoui found Amado Diallo, who skilfully ran up and equalized after a run from Jan Paul Van Hecke.
Both sides pushed forward in pursuit of victory. The home side found the net once more before the end of the game when substitute Joshua Zirkzee cleared Alejandro Garnach’s spur into an empty net. But the goal was disallowed because the Dutch international was in an offside position.
Although the game continued in much the same fashion, it seemed that no one would be able to break the tie. But that was only true until Joao Pedro found himself in the right place in a long set-up and sent the home crowd into raptures with a goal. Two wins from two games is the perfect start to the season for new Brighton boss Fabian Hürzeler.
