Manchester United endured a miserable 3-1 defeat at home by Brighton & Hove Albion on Sunday after visiting winger Yankuba Minteh scored one goal and created another, with the hosts not helped by a howler from goalkeeper André Onana.
Kaoru Mitoma and Georginio Rutter were also on the scoresheet in the second half for Brighton, who also had a goal from Joao Pedro ruled out by VAR for a foul in the build-up.
Bruno Fernandes netted a penalty for United to level the score at 1-1 at halftime but, after Brighton took the lead for the second time, Onana spilled a routine gather from a low cross into the box, allowing Rutter to tap home the loose ball.
Brighton climb to ninth place with 34 points, four points off the top four. United are 13th on 26 also from 22 games.
“Another loss at home. It’s not acceptable, the way we conceded the goals. We can play some football but in small spaces of time, it’s not consistent, and we get nervous and then we concede a goal,” United manager Ruben Amorim said.
Brighton have won in six of their last seven league games with United and on their last three visits to Old Trafford.
The teams were led out by bagpipes in memory of club great Denis Law, who died this week, with a wreath laid at the centre circle by former manager Alex Ferguson.
Brighton led inside five minutes as Mitoma beat the offside trap on the left from Carlos Baleba‘s long ball and his pass across goal provided a simple finish for the unmarked Minteh.
United won a penalty midway through the first half when Brighton attempted to play the ball out of defence, but goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen‘s pass was poor and the ball fell to Joshua Zirkzee in the box.
Georginio Rutter sealed the win for Brighton with their third goal at Old Trafford.
Gareth Copley/Getty Images
Baleba put his arm on the shoulder of the striker, who went to ground and referee Peter Bankes pointed to the spot, with Fernandes having no problem slotting home to level the score.
Brighton thought they were in front again seven minutes into the second period when United failed to clear a low free-kick into the box and Pedro finished but a VAR check ruled Jan Paul van Hecke had kicked the foot of Diogo Dalot in the melee.
However, the visitors did get a second on the hour when Mitoma stretched at the back post ahead of United defender Noussair Mazraoui to turn in Minteh’s inviting cross.
Brighton then netted a third thanks to Onana’s horrendous error to make the game safe and leave United to dwell on their 10th league defeat of the league campaign, the earliest they have reached double figures since the 1989-90 campaign.
“It’s hard to play here but we stayed calm and played with confidence,” Rutter said. “The season is long and we have to keep going like this, taking it game by game and we’ll see at the end.”
