04 May 2023 , 05:00
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Manchester United will be hoping Thursday's visit to Brighton turns out to be the opposite of last season's corresponding fixture after being left 'embarrassed' in a 4-0 defeat.
The Seagulls smashed Ralf Rangnick's sorry side, who were on their way to finishing with their lowest-ever Premier League points total. Graham Potter's side romped to victory at the Amex Stadium last May to inflict another low point on the Red Devils.
Moises Caicedo put the hosts ahead with a long-range strike just 15 minutes in, before Brighton secured the win with three second-half goals. Marc Cucurella doubled his side's lead four minutes after the break by firing into the roof of the net from Leandro Trossard's pull-back.
Trossard was also on hand to set up Pascal Gross for the third, before getting on the scoresheet himself by bundling the ball over the line. The defeat was United's fifth successive loss on the road and left them sixth in the table.
The humiliation on the south coast also led to the United squad making the unprecedented request to cancel the club's end-of-season awards. The trip to Brighton was their last game before the glitzy ceremony, which pays tribute to the club's outstanding players.
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The gala dinner had been held at Old Trafford for more than a decade but did not take place last year. As reported by Mirror Football at the time, the United squad were too embarrassed to hold the black-tie event.
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Manchester United were left humiliated on their last visit to Brighton (GLYN KIRK/AFP via Getty Images)The players were thought to have felt awkward about staging the dinner amid such an abysmal season. As a result, club chiefs decided against putting it on, with the club's supporters having turned against the underperforming squad.
Cristiano Ronaldo was named the Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year despite the event not going ahead, the fourth time he had won the award. Current boss Erik ten Hag is hoping Thursday's clash goes better than this season's first meeting, which Brighton won at Old Trafford.
"I never want to talk during the season about pride or satisfaction. No, because you know my statement: satisfaction leads to laziness and we are in the season. We have six games to go and every game we want to win," he said.
"Therefore you need full focus, you need full energy and you need full preparation and tomorrow definitely it's going to be a fight and we have to get ready for that fight to get the points.
"We want to win every game, we want to win every competition and so I can't choose but it's clear we want to be in the Champions League. That is the competition we are now fighting for and I think that is in this moment the only thing we have to focus on.
"The FA Cup final is after the season. So the only thing we have to do now is get this done. But you have to go from game to game."