Brighton 1, Manchester United 0
Brighton beat Manchester United with a 99th minute winner from the penalty spot by Alexis Mac Allister to boost their European hopes.
Embed from Getty ImagesLuke Shaw was the man who gave away the penalty as United failed to see out a draw against their opponents and continued their wretched away run against top half Premier League clubs.
It was Brighton’s latest ever Premier League goal scored as well as the latest Premier League goal conceded for the Reds as Brighton beat United for the third time in a row in the Premier League and avenged their FA Cup semi final heartbreak against the Reds just days earlier.
Brighton moved up to 6th, 8 points behind United in fourth with a game in hand, as they improved their chances of qualifying for European football next season.
On the other hand, United’s wretched away record continues – they have failed to win at any of the top nine teams in the Premier League this season (losing all of them except for a draw at Spurs) and their second half performance fell off a cliff again.
And they could have ended up with fewer players on the pitch at the end after some hot headed incidents involving Antony and Casemiro.
The Seagulls were the better side, especially in the second half, but just as the Reds thought they had won a point after hanging on for dear life at the end VAR spotted a handball by Luke Shaw deep into injury time.
It only needed a cursory check by referee Andre Marriner to confirm the infringement by Shaw but World Cup winner Mac Allister sent David De Gea the wrong way to send the Amex Stadium into raptures.
Luke Shaw accepted the blame for giving away the penalty right at the end but showed his frustration when he identified the problem that has been dogging United all season and could potentially deny them a Champions League spot that looked all but theirs last week.
He told Sky: “It hurts a lot, in the last minute, I got nudged but I can’t explain why my hand was up there.
“It was a silly mistake that cost us a point in the end.
“The free kick that was given away before that was never a foul. The corner should never have happened.
“The problem is we don’t score, we had three or four chances in the first half. It’s happened a lot of times this season.
“We have to be scoring these goals and the games would be different. We could have been 3-0 up.
“We’re not clinical enough – I don’t really know what else to say.
“Teams around us are picking up points but [the Champions League] is still in our hands.”
Reds manager Erik ten Hag agreed, declaring that United should have taken their chances while they failed to remain cool under pressure to take home the point.
He said: “We created a great chance in the first minute but didn’t score, we need to be more clinical but instead we conceded a chance and gave away a goal at the end.
“It was never a free kick before the corner.
“We have to take our chances, Antony, Martial, Rashford, and Casemiro all had chances that should be in.
Ten Hag conceded that Brighton’s winner was deserved but also complained about the refereeing.
He added about the penalty: “It was handball. Maybe [Luke] was out of balance because of a push but I am more angry about the free kick before – it was a fair block.
“It’s not about the referees, we had to take our chances.
“There were some really bad fouls on Rashford and Antony within 10-15 seconds. I don’t agree with their reaction but we had to stay in control.
“We have everything still in our hands but we have to take the lessons from tonight and bounce back against West Ham.”
United made four changes with Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Fred, Antony, and Anthony Martial coming in to the side while Tyrell Malacia, Jadon Sancho, Christian Eriksen and Marcel Sabitzer were rested.
Antony put an early shot wide after Bruno Fernandes slipped him through.
Kaoru Mitoma took full advantage of a mistake by Victor Lindelof, who was trying to play the ball to Aaron Wan-Bissaka, to intercept the loose ball but his shot was bravely stopped by David De Gea who took the full force of the ball to his face after making himself big.
After a lengthy stoppage play was allowed to continue and Brighton stepped through the gears with Mitoma flashing a shot wide of the back post after dribbling into the box.
The Japanese winger tried to claim a penalty after tripping over but claims were waved away by Andre Marriner.
But United were not without chances and Casemiro headed narrowly over the bar after a good ball into the box by Luke Shaw while Jason Steele parried a great shot by Marcus Rashford after he had slipped his marker Moises Caicedo, and Antony’s mishit shot was palmed away by the Brighton goalkeeper.
Julio Enciso shot wide of the far post as Brighton kept poking holes in the United defence.
Martial shot straight at Steele but there were worrying moments after Marcus Rashford went down shortly before half time and needed treatment.
Casemiro was booked for a cynical challenge on Alex Mac Allister who was trying to break away and Facundo Buonanotte curled past the back post.
Brighton continued to attack United after the break with chances relatively few – Mitoma had another penalty shout turned down and he stayed down while United countered.
Steele pushed away a Bruno Fernandes shot as the game maintained an element of threat without any goals.
But as the game went into the final quarter Antony lost his head after failing to get anything for a perceived foul and proceeded to lock horns with Mac Allister afterwards.
The Brazilian and Lewis Dunk were booked for a fracas afterwards.
Casemiro saw 20 yard drive went over the bar while Rashford’s free kick didn’t trouble Steele.
Marcel Sabitzer and Jadon Sancho replaced Fred and Antony while Wout Weghorst came on for Martial with 6 minutes to go.
Substitute Solly March dragged a shot wide of the far post – a chance to exorcise his FA Cup demons and De Gea saved from Mac Allister and Pervis Estupinan’s long range shots plus a last gasp effort from Caicedo.
But the drama was saved till the very end as Luke Shaw was spotted by VAR swatting away a corner with his hand – Marriner went to the pitch side monitor and confirmed the spot kick seven minutes into six minutes of added time.
And Mac Allister stepped up with De Gea trying to put him off before the penalty – the Argentine made no mistake from the spot as he drove it into the top left corner with the United keeper diving the wrong way.