• last year
Frankie Elliott previews Brighton's trip to Manchester United and runs down the key talking points from Roberto De Zerbi's pre-match press conference
Transcript
00:00 Hello, my name is Frank Yellit, I am a football reporter for Sussex World Online.
00:07 I'm currently just leaving the Brighton & Hove Albion first team training ground after Roberto Zerbia's just spoken to the press ahead of Albion's Premier League clash against Manchester United at Old Trafford tomorrow.
00:19 This is Albion's first game back after a two week international break which saw a number of Brighton players performing very well for their national teams.
00:27 Lewis Dunk the pick of the bunch of course winning his second ever England cap, the first appearance for the Freelions in five years in the 3-1 win over Scotland.
00:36 Also playing in that game was Billy Gilmore on the other side, Pascal Gross also another Brighton player who won his first ever cap for Germany.
00:45 Playing in a game unfortunately where the Germans didn't play very well they lost 4-1 to Japan and of course in that Japan side was Karu Mitoma.
00:53 So a number of players been out on international duty all over the world over the last two weeks.
00:57 As Zerbia said they've all come back and most of them are in a good condition bar the tiredness issues of Pervez Istopinion and Facundo Buonate who of course travelled from South America recently.
01:09 So he was saying they are a little bit jaded from their travels but the rest of the squad are in a good condition except for Evan Ferguson.
01:17 He was a very talented striker, was the talk of the town really after his hat trick display against Newcastle.
01:24 Those three well taking goals in the win at the Amex Stadium before the international break.
01:29 But unfortunately the young striker picked up a knee injury either during that game or some believe even before that game.
01:36 And he was not able to go on international duty with the Republic of Ireland despite being in the squad.
01:43 Now Brian had hoped that Ferguson would have recovered from the injury before tomorrow's game but according to the Zerbia Today he returned to training yesterday and was not in the best condition.
01:55 So it is unlikely we will see Evan Ferguson playing or even starting tomorrow at Old Trafford.
02:00 The other big talking point of course is Ansoo Fati the Barcelona winger, the very very talented Barcelona winger who shockingly moved to Albion on deadline day on a season long loan.
02:12 This is his first opportunity to don the Brighton shirt in the game against Erik Ten Haag tomorrow.
02:18 And again the Zerbi was keen to point out that he would play a part in tomorrow's game but due to only having a week of first team training with his new team mate he again was unlikely to start.
02:28 So he is expected to be used from the bench at some point during tomorrow's game.
02:33 But what an incredible moment it will be to see a Barcelona player playing for Brighton in the Premier League.
02:39 So that is another thing to look forward to tomorrow.
02:42 And Brighton returning to action of course after a brilliant start to the season so far.
02:46 They have won three of their first four games, have scored ten goals in the process and have looked very very impressive so far picking up off the back of a brilliant season last year.
02:55 That last year of course they beat United home and away in the Premier League.
02:59 Two won on the opening day of the season in Erik Ten Haag's first game in charge of the Red Devils and then in the last minute at the Amex Stadium Alexis McAllister penalty got them the three points and a 1-0 win back in May of this year.
03:13 So they have actually won their last three league meetings against United so going into the game almost with slight favourites which is a bizarre thing to say about a Brighton team playing Manchester United, one of the biggest clubs in the world.
03:24 But they do because of the back of their recent history and their recent form.
03:27 However the thing that will sting of course for most Brighton fans is the fact that when they played Manchester United in the FA Cup Semi-Final at Wembley back in April of this year they cruelly lost on penalties despite drawing 0-0 throughout the game and in extra time.
03:43 They lost that on penalties so that was the one that will still sting the most despite winning their last three league meetings.
03:49 But they play United side who are in a lot of trouble at the moment.
03:53 The season has not started brilliantly, they have only won two of their first four games.
03:58 Those two wins were very unconvincing against Nottingham Forest and Wolves and obviously defeats as well to Tottenham and Arsenal.
04:05 They have got a lot of issues off the pitch for you to obviously know the well documented issues of Anthony at the moment.
04:12 They have got issues with Jadon Sancho as well.
04:14 The player put out a social media post claiming he was a scapegoat for not being selected for the matchday score against Arsenal.
04:21 He has been left out of first team training.
04:23 Eric Tenhague is expecting an apology from the England winger but whether that is going to be delivered before tomorrow's game or if he is in contention for selection is very much in doubt.
04:34 But there are issues between Tenhague and Sancho.
04:36 They have got a number of issues with injuries.
04:39 A number of the centre-backs have had knocks in recent weeks.
04:42 Lindelof, Martínez, Varane, Maguire as well have all been struggling with injuries or knocks in some description.
04:50 So we are unsure about who the starting centre-backs will be tomorrow.
04:53 There have also been problems for Mason Mount, Luke Shaw, their new signing Sotir Amrabat,
05:00 Russell Haaland also has still not played, not started against and signing for the club due to having a back problem.
05:06 So there are issues all across the pitch with injuries and discipline problems and poor form.
05:11 So what sort of United side we are going to see tomorrow is yet to be seen.
05:16 We would hope, and Eric Tenhague would hope, to have Sotir Amrabat and Sergio Riquelon, his two deadline days signings, both signed on season long.
05:25 We hope to have them available for the game as we also hope to have Marcus Rashford and Bruno Fernandes, those three key players who have all been fundamental to United.
05:39 Successive sorts under Tenhague, obviously they finished third last year and won the League Cup.
05:44 They are fundamental to United playing well under the Dutch manager.
05:48 Tomorrow's game, Old Trafford, kicks off at 3pm.
05:51 You can catch up all the coverage from the game, both before and afterwards, and all the analysis and catch-up from quotes and interviews from players and managers after the game on Sussex World Online.
06:02 And keep up to date on our social media pages.
06:04 That's all from me for now, have a great rest of your week.
06:06 (static)

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