Solskjaer Makes History As Man United Beat Brighton 2-1
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer became the first Manchester United manager to win his first six league games in charge as his side held on to beat Brighton.
It was United’s seventh straight win since the Norwegian took over at Old Trafford on an interim basis a month ago and they are now just three points off fourth-placed Chelsea, who play Arsenal in Saturday’s late kick-off.
Paul Pogba put United in front after winning and then converting a penalty in the 27th minute of the match.
Marcus Rashford doubled the lead just before half-time with a beautiful solo goal on his 150th appearance for the club.
Pascal Gross halved the deficit for the visitors when he scored in off the bar with just over 20 minutes remaining.
Brighton improved in the second half but their wretched away record continued as they fell to a fifth defeat in their last eight Premier League games.
The last time these sides met was in August, when United’s season under Jose Mourinho began unravelling with a 3-2 defeat. Since then, things have changed.
United’s first-half performance at Old Trafford on Saturday was worlds apart from that game last summer.
Solskjaer almost had the luxury of naming an unchanged line-up for back-to-back league games for the first time since December 2017, but Luke Shaw fell ill in the warm-up and Diogo Dalot took his place.
United put Brighton under relentless pressure from the off and deservedly took the lead.
Nemanja Matic’s cross-field pass found Pogba, whose first touch took him past Gaetan Bong and the defender then clumsily nudged him over.
The Frenchman’s stuttering penalty run-up has not completely disappeared, but this was nowhere near as long as his 26-step effort against Everton back in October and he slotted his shot past David Button.