Manchester Utd – Brighton

Under Erik ten Hag’s leadership, the home team picks up their first win

One of the world's most popular clubs will start the new Premier League season at home stadium Old Trafford on Sunday. Manchester United have retained Cristiano Ronaldo but are unlikely to start the season in a good mood. There have been too many transfer rumours surrounding the legendary Portuguese, which at the end of the story began to turn into humorous memes. In addition to the Ronaldo epic, the Mancunian club lost Paul Pogba and Jesse Lingard during the off-season, as well as several other players close to the main squad. At the same time, the Red Devils have strengthened their defensive ranks by paying just over 57 million euros to Ajax for Lissandro Martinez. Eriksen, whom Erik ten Hag immediately began to let into the starting line-up, is also an interesting signing for the club. Manchester United played six friendlies in July, with results that ranged from a 0-1 victory against Liverpool to a 1-1 draw against Rayo Vallecano. Of course, the Dutch coach is pushing his team to the maximum for the start of the season. The objectives are clear - a return to the Champions League, which Ronaldo and company missed out on last season. Brighton made a fair amount of fun of their upcoming opponents at the end of last season, forcing De Hea to take the ball out of his net four times. Of course, Manchester United were already feverish at the time, so even after the 0-4 defeat at Old Trafford in May, the home side are the clear favourites to win. On top of that, Brighton lost one of their leaders, Marc Cucurella, to Chelsea for 65 million euros just the other day. Prior to that, Yves Bissouma left for Tottenham, which definitely weakened Graham Potter's supporting area. Overall, the main objective of the Brighton coaching staff for the coming season is to maintain defensive strength with significant personnel losses. In head-to-head rivalry, the aforementioned win for Brighton was the only one since 2018. The other seven fixtures between the beginning of 2019 and February 2022 ended consistently in favour of Manchester United. In four of them, the Mancunians scored three times, while in another three games they scored two goals each. We are betting that the home side will win the opening game of the season.