Manchester United’s first domestic cup game under Michael Carrick takes place on Wednesday night, against Brighton & Hove Albion.
The Reds have drawn the Seagulls, our most recent opponents in the Emirates FA Cup, in the third round of the Carabao Cup.
After exiting the competition at the first hurdle last term, following a penalty shootout at Grimsby Town, we will be looking to embark on a run, with silverware up for grabs.
The match will go straight
to penalties, if the scores are level after 90 minutes.
Carrick’s men won 3-0 on the final day of the 2025/26 campaign, with a top-class performance at the Amex Stadium.Patrick Chinazaekpere Dorgu, heading in a Bruno Fernandes cross to ensure the skipper broke the Premier League assists record for a single season, opened the scoring before Bryan Mbeumo added a second. Fernandes ran through to make it three, with VAR ruling the effort should stand after it was initially disallowed.
Previously, we lost 2-1 to the Seagulls in the FA Cup third round last term, when Darren Fletcher was in caretaker charge of the team. Although Benjamin Šeško pulled a goal back, strikes by Brajan Gruda and former Red Danny Welbeck proved decisive, with Shea Lacey sent off for two bookable offences.
Our most recent match against the south-coast club in this competition came in September 2020, when Scott McTominay, Juan Mata and Paul Pogba found the net in a 3-0 away triumph.
Brighton continue to impress under young coach Fabian Hurzeler. They have qualified for the UEFA Conference League and sit in fourth place in the table, ahead of Monday’s clash between Leeds United and Newcastle United.
The Seagulls are the top scorers in the division, at the time of writing, after opening the season with a 4-0 thumping of Aston Villa. Their only defeat came at Chelsea, when losing 4-3, with their other league outing a 1-1 home drraw against Leeds.
DID YOU KNOW?
Aside from the 2020 contest, which we won 3-0, the only other League Cup meetings with Brighton came in 1992. A Danny Wallace opener was levelled by Matthew Edwards at the Goldstone Ground, with David Beckham coming off the bench for his senior debut for the club.
A 1-0 victory followed in the second leg at Old Trafford, as Mark Hughes scored the only goal of the game.
TEAM NEWS
We await Michael Carrick’s press conference, when there could be more information released on the plans for the tie.
Carlos Baleba is set to miss out on the chance of facing his former club, as he continues his recovery from injury, with Matthijs de Ligt, Manuel Ugarte and Amad also sidelined. Luke Shaw was close to being fit enough to appear in the Manchester derby but may not be risked, with a trip to Fulham in the Premier League on the horizon.
It remains to be seen whether Carrick will shuffle his pack in this competition, with several players pushing for a chance to impress.
Brighton hammered Coventry City 5-0, away from home, on Sunday but have got a number of potential starters missing. Evan Ferguson, Jack Hinshelwood, Yankuba Minteh, Kaoru Mitoma, Stefanos Tzimas, Mats Wieffer and Zadok Yohanna could all be out.
There are doubts over Georginio Rutter and Michael Svoboda, while Femi Azeez has already played for Millwall in this season’s Carabao Cup but recent rule changes mean he is still eligible.
