Preview: Man United come up against inform Brighton in the Carabao Cup

Manchester United face Brighton in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday evening with the pressure already starting to build under Michael Carrick.

By Ian King

Manchester United’s early exit vs. Grimsby last season is a warning 

Manchester United entertain Brighton & Hove Albion in England’s secondary cup competition with a rather too familiar nervousness starting to settle over Old Trafford again, with one win from their opening four matches of the Premier League season seeing them pushed back into the bottom half of the table. It’s been more than a year since United lost on penalty kicks to Grimsby Town at Blundell Park, a match which turned out to be the beginning of the end for Michael Carrick’s predecessor, Ruben Amorim. 

Brighton & Hove Albion, meanwhile, have been the Premier League’s entertainers so far this season. They’re the division’s top scorers, with thirteen scored in their first four games, including a 4-0 win against Aston Villa on the opening weekend and a 5-0 win at Coventry City last Sunday. This season marks their tenth since promotion to the Premier League in 2017, but they remain without a trophy to mark that decade. 

Brighton recorded their first-ever cup win against United at the start of this year

Brighton started 2026 with a 2-1 win at Old Trafford in the FA Cup, their first ever cup win against Manchester United, but United did complete a league double over them last season, winning 4-2 at Old Trafford in October and 3-0 at The Amex in May. Prior to that meeting in October 2025, Brighton had also won their previous three trips to Old Trafford. 

Both of these teams’ previous meetings in this competition have resulted in Manchester United winning. United won 3-0 at The Amex in September 2020, and 2-1 over two legs in September 1992, with a Mark Hughes goal deciding the second leg after the two sides had drawn the first leg 1-1 at The Goldstone Ground. 

Brighton’s goal threats could come from any position on the pitch

Brighton may be the division’s top goalscorers, but none of their players are at the top of the goalscoring charts. Their 13 goals have included two own goals, with the other 11 having been scored by eight different players. 

One of their standout performers so far this season has been defensive midfielder Pascal Groß, who put in an outstanding performance at Coventry on Sunday as part of a superb renaissance with the club since spending the first half of last season on loan in Germany with Borussia Dortmund. He’s also scored more goals against Manchester United  – seven, in total – than against any other opponent in his career. 

Groß, a regular thorn in United’s side

One of the bigger complaints that Manchester United fans had about Michael Carrick’s handling of Sunday’s derby match was his failure to introduce Benjamin Šeško until the midway point in the second half as the home team laboured to get back into the match. Šeško’s performances this season have been somewhat patchy, but he scored against Sabah FK in their first Champions League match, and he may be what United need to break down a Brighton defence which has only conceded five goals in their first four League matches of the season. 

Expect changes from Michael Carrick following Sunday’s derby defeat

It may be early in the season, but injuries are already starting to pile up for both teams. Manchester United will be missing Matthijs de Ligt (back), Manuel Ugarte (knee), Amad Diallo (ankle), Tom Heaton (hamstring) and former Seagull Carlos Baleba (ankle), while Luke Shaw will be assessed ahead of kick-off, with Patrick Dorgu likely to continue to deputise should Shaw not make the cut. Matheus Cunha was ineffective in Sunday’s derby match, and Šeško may well be called up as a replacement for him. 

Brighton also have their fair share of absentees. Yankuba Minteh (calf), Kaoru Mitoma (thigh), Jack Hinshelwood and Zadok Yohanna (unspecified knocks), Mats Wieffer and Stefanos Tzimas (both knee) and Evan Ferguson (ankle) will all be missing, while Georginio Rutter (ankle), Femi Azeez (thigh) and Michael Svoboda (knee) all missed their 5-0 win at Coventry on Sunday and will be assessed ahead of the match. 

The pressue is all on the home side, not the visiting Seagulls

Having made 464 appearances for the club as a player over twelve years which spanned the Late Stage Ferguson years and those which followed, Michael Carrick will be fully aware of the expectations at Old Trafford and the way in which pressure can quickly start to build should a Manchester United team not deliver on the pitch. 

Losing at home to Manchester City was only part of the story. The way they did so, having had a player advantage for three-quarters of the match, was just as important, and the controversial nature of what turned out to be the only goal of that match doesn’t negate how unimaginative their performance was otherwise. 

Brighton & Hove Albion are now playing their tenth season of Premier League football, but while other clubs around them – including, not insignificantly, their bitter rivals Crystal Palace – have accumulated some silverware, they still don’t have a major trophy to their name. The Carabao Cup would be an excellent place to start correcting this, and they should be motivated to go to Old Trafford and come away with a result which allows them to continue to do so. 

With an international break to come following the weekend’s Premier League fixtures, this match coupled with a trip to Fulham on Sunday will not make or break Michael Carrick, but they will set a mood for three weeks during which there’s no actual football to break up The Discourse surrounding his suitability for the job. Carrick needs a win, if a head of steam isn’t to build behind the idea that perhaps his appointment into the position on a full-time basis was a mistake after all.

But Brighton have been excellent under Fabian Hürzeler so far this season. Their performances against Aston Villa and Coventry City have ranked amongst the best we’ve seen from anyone in the division, and they have the motivation to want to push on and see if they can have a deep run in this year’s competition. With goals that could come from anywhere and a relatively stable defence, I suspect that things might be set to get worse for Carrick before they get better, and a 3-2 Brighton win would certainly turn the heat under him still higher. 

(Cover image from IMAGO)

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