Manchester United have finally turned a corner under Ruben Amorim with back-to-back wins in the Premier League for the first time in his 11-month reign.

But sustaining a revival is threatened on Saturday by their bogey team, Brighton & Hove Albion, who have triumphed on their last three visits to Old Trafford in the Premier League under three different head coaches. They have won six of the last seven league meetings home and away, eight out of 16 overall. Their 50 per cent win rate is the highest of any side against United in the history of the competition.

So how have Brighton become the team that keeps on beating United?

Constant evolution in the dugout

Brighton have chosen well when making the most important hire at any club. Chris Hughton steered them to promotion from the Championship in 2016-17. He launched the record of success against a United side managed then by Jose Mourinho with consecutive victories only three months apart at the Amex Stadium in Brighton’s first two seasons in the Premier League (1-0 in May 2018; 3-2 in August 2018).

Hughton’s side, built on a strong defence and resilience, established a tenuous foothold in the top flight. The aim became to evolve from survivors into thrivers. Graham Potter had nothing like the profile he has now (Sweden’s new head coach has been a regular fixture in the Premier League over the last six years) when he replaced the sacked Hughton in May 2019. Potter had pulled up trees in Swedish club football, steering Ostersunds FK to three promotions and qualification for the Europa League, before impressive in a short spell at Swansea in the Championship.

A more progressive style of play under Potter yielded victories over Liverpool at Anfield in 2021 and in consecutive matches away to Arsenal and Tottenham in 2022. Brighton were no longer overawed by taking on the powerhouses of the division in their own backyards. They proved that again with the first of their three successive wins at Old Trafford on the opening day of the 2022-23 campaign.

The club’s first win away to United ruined the launch of Erik ten Hag’s tenure. Jamie Carragher, speaking about the second of Pascal Gross’s goals in a 2-1 victory — a pass and move counter-attack from midway inside their own half involving five players — said on Sky Sports: “If you ever want to see a goal that sums up the work of Graham Potter and his team, it’s this.”

Graham Potter celebrates victory at Old Trafford in August 2022 (Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)

After Potter left for Chelsea in September 2022, Roberto De Zerbi took the team (and the way they built from the back) to a whole new level, baiting the opposition press to a daring extreme. The Italian, hired after spells in Serie A with Benevento and Sassuolo, and Shakhtar Donetsk in Ukraine, masterminded a 3-1 win at Old Trafford a year into his reign.

De Zerbi’s side looked miles ahead of Ten Hag’s United, controlling possession (56 per cent to 44), defending one v one, and easily playing through the United press with passing accuracy and attacking fluency. Brighton fans sang “We want our ball back” late on when United had a period of possession. Goals by Danny Welbeck against his boyhood club, Gross and Joao Pedro inflicted only United’s second home league defeat in 13 months, after the first by Potter’s Brighton.

The Old Trafford hat-trick was completed under Fabian Hurzeler in January this year with another 3-1 win thanks to goals from Yankuba Minteh, Kaoru Mitoma and Georginio Rutter.

Hurzeler was only 31 years old when he replaced De Zerbi in June of last year. Stylistically, he is a hybrid of his predecessor and Potter, focusing on intensity out of possession. Hurzeler’s version of Brighton hurt Amorim’s side in wide areas, with Mitoma on the left and Minteh on the right exchanging assists and goals.

The common theme of the victories over United is tactically smart coaches and talented players exploiting the opponent’s weaknesses, plus a belief in belonging at such venues.

A global recruitment policy

Brighton’s goalscorers in those three wins away to Manchester United provide a snapshot of the global recruitment that has served Brighton so well in their progression. Experienced campaigners such as Gross and Welbeck, snapped up cheaply, help guide young players with big potential who Brighton develop and improve to increase their value.

Gross was an unheralded midfielder with relegated Ingolstadt in Germany’s Bundesliga when he became the club’s first signing for the step up to the Premier League for £3million in 2017 at the age of 25. He became a club legend over the course of seven years, embellishing his impact against United — seven goals and two assists in 12 Premier League matches in total against them — with 30 goals and 46 assists across 228 appearances before returning to his homeland with Borussia Dortmund in 2024.

Pascal Gross celebrates another goal at Old Trafford in September 2023 (Simon Stacpoole/Getty Images)

Welbeck is still going strong. The 34-year-old forward heads back to Old Trafford after scoring both goals in Saturday’s 2-1 home win against Newcastle, which followed two as a substitute in a 3-1 victory at Chelsea in September. It is no wonder that United were interested in re-signing him during Ten Hag’s reign.

Mitoma was a £3m bargain from Kawasaki Frontale in Japan’s top flight in 2021. Offers of £54million and £61m from Al Nassr in the Saudi Pro League for the 28-year-old were rejected in this year’s January window.

Gambian winger Minteh, 21, and 23-year-old French forward Rutter were both signed during the summer 2024 transfer window, respectively from Newcastle for £30m and from Leeds United for a club record outlay of £40m. Those deals, part of a near £200m spend on nine players that summer, highlight how Brighton have gradually been able to increase spending and the strength in depth of the squad through profitable transfer trading.

Replacements for superstars stepping up

Selling their best players for big profits has not been a barrier to Brighton’s progression — or victories over United. Quality is replaced by quality in a continuous cycle. De Zerbi’s side won at Old Trafford in September 2023 without midfield partners Alexis Mac Allister and Moises Caicedo. They had been sold that summer to Liverpool and Chelsea (the latter for a British record £115m). The centre of the park was bossed instead by Carlos Baleba and Yasin Ayari.

United pursued Baleba during this summer’s transfer window, only backing off when Brighton made it clear the asking price for the 21-year-old was in the ballpark of the Caicedo fee.

Baleba has been unsettled by United’s interest in a troubled start to the campaign, but he returned to form in that last fixture against Newcastle. The trip to Old Trafford gives Baleba a chance to remind United why they are keen on him as they assess their plans for next summer’s transfer window. Ayari, meanwhile, has grown into a classy Swedish international at the age of 22 since joining from AIK for approximately £5m in 2023.

The victory at Old Trafford under Potter in August 2022 was achieved 48 hours after selling Marc Cucurella to Chelsea for £63m and 48 days after Yves Bissouma went to Tottenham for £25m. Cucurella was on target with Gross, Caicedo and Leandro Trossard (before the Belgian went to Arsenal) in a 4-0 thrashing under Potter of Ralf Rangnick’s United at the Amex in May 2022.

A year later, in the corresponding fixture, Brighton had qualified for Europe for the first time under De Zerbi, finishing sixth to reach the Europa League, when Mac Allister’s penalty in added time secured all three points.

The £60m summer sale to Chelsea of attacking spearhead Joao Pedro — on target with Welbeck in a 2-1 win over United in Hurzeler’s first home game in charge last season — has not thrown Brighton off course. They now head to Old Trafford in 10th, a point and a place below United in the table.

Welbeck has scored three goals in nine league matches for Brighton against United (Stu Forster/Getty Images)

Clear leadership from the top

The capacity to go toe-to-toe with United on the pitch stems from the top, with the way the club is run by owner-chairman Tony Bloom. Brighton cannot live with United financially, but the lifelong supporter and wealthy sports betting entrepreneur’s data-led recruitment model is the starting point to level the playing field.

It is not just about identifying managers and players. Bloom, together with long-serving chief executive and deputy chairman Paul Barber, has created a stable template which allows them to flourish and which gives them the most precious commodity of all in football: time.

The reigns of Bloom’s managers have lasted well above the average in the environment of the Premier League. Hughton was in charge across the top two tiers for four years and five months, Potter’s stay spanned three years and four months before he chose to move to Chelsea. Even De Zerbi, a combustible genius now flying with Marseille at the top of Ligue 1 in France, lasted almost two full seasons before disagreement over recruitment policy prompted his departure.

Hurzeler is in the early stages of his second season, having steered Brighton to an eighth-placed finish in his first year. Players are given time to adapt as well. Charalampos Kostoulas, signed from Olympiacos in the summer for £30m, did not make his league debut until he came off the bench in the closing minutes against Newcastle last weekend.

Regularly pushing for Europe and winning the club’s first major silverware are the new aims in the ‘2030 vision’ compiled by Barber for the next five years. Brighton are always forward-thinking under Bloom, modifying in an attempt to achieve the objectives. In September, Jason Ayto was appointed sporting director at the expense of technical director David Weir. Recruiting the 40-year-old former Arsenal assistant and interim sporting director is part of the relentless process of seeking marginal gains.

It never used to be like this — not when Bloom was a 13-year-old boy and Brighton lost 4-0 to United in an FA Cup final replay in 1983 following a 2-2 draw in the first game. United finished third in the table that season, while Brighton were relegated from the old First Division.

They spent the next 34 years in at least one division or more below United, as the trophy cabinet at Old Trafford bulged. But on the pitch at least, Bloom has played a part in transforming the narrative.