Manchester United custodian David de Gea will be looking to extend his lead in theEnglish Premier League golden glove race when United travel to the impressing Brighton.
The two sides have met twice this season with the Red Devils winning none of the fixtures. In the most recent fixture, the home side lost on post-match penalties after the FA Cup semifinal tie ended in a barren draw after extra time.
Brighton will be seeking to inflict more misery to United’s away record which has been abysmal when playing teams in the top nine of the table.
Of the seven games they have played, Erik Ten Hag’s best result has been a draw against Tottenham Hotspur.
In that particular match, Spurs had to come from two goals down to earn a point piling more misery on United’s away form.
This tie is crucial for David de Gea who is leading the golden glove race with 15 cleansheets. He is followed by Newcastle’s Nick Pope who hasn’t conceded in 13 games while Aaron Ramsdale comes 3rd with 12 cleansheets.
OUT OF REACH RECORD
With the English Premier League record of 24 cleansheets set by Petr Cech in the 2004/05 campaign out of sight, De Gea will be looking to better his own record of 18 cleansheets in a season that he recorded in the 2017/18 under Jose Mourinho.
United will still be missing the services of World Cup winners Raphael Varane and Lisandro Martinez. The Argentine will miss the rest of the season while the fixture comes too early for the French center back who should make an appearance in the near future.
INJURIES
Speaking in the prematch conference, Manchester United manager expressed his confidence in Varane making an appearance before the season ends citing that he was closer to full fitness compared to Scottish international, Scott McTominay.
“The prognosis, I think Rapha is closer than Scott McTominay in this moment. But still they are, for the coming two games [Brighton and West Ham], they are not available,” said Ten Hag.
Other players that will miss the fixture are Alejandro Garnacho, Tom Heaton, and longterm absentee Donny van de Beek.
THE RETURNEES
Meanwhile, Brighton manager Roberto De Zerbi is likely to miss the clash as he fell ill moments before the prematch conference. His assistant, Andrea Maldera will take charge in case the Italian manager fails to recover in time.
Brighton, who fielded a fringe team in their huge 6-0 victory against Wolverhampton will welcome back heavy hitters Kaoru Mitoma, Moise Caicedo, Levi Colwill and Alexis MacAllister into the starting team.
Right-back Joel Veltam is doubtful for this fixture after limping off against Wolves. Other expected absentees are Adam Lallana, Evan Ferguson, Tariq Lamptey and Jakub Moder.
The game will kick off at 2200hours East African Time.
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