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Ole Gunnar Solskjaer became the first Manchester United coach to win his first six league games, as his team stood firm against Brighton.
This is the seventh consecutive victory of United since the Norwegian took over at Old Trafford temporarily a month ago. They are now only three points from fourth place, Chelsea, who lost to Arsenal last Saturday.
Paul Pogba gave United the advantage after winning the match and converted a penalty in the 27th minute.
Marcus Rashford doubled the lead just before half-time with a superb solo goal for his 150th game for the club.
Pascal Gross halved the deficit for visitors when he scored in less than 20 minutes.
Brighton improved in the second half, but his poor record continued after a fifth defeat in his last eight Premier League matches.
United's winning streak continues
The last time these teams met, it was in August, when United's season led by Jose Mourinho began to collapse with a 3-2 loss.
But United's first-half performance at Old Trafford on Saturday was different from last summer's.
Solskjaer had almost the luxury of appointing for the first time since December 2017 an unchanged lineup for consecutive league games, but Luke Shaw got sick during the warm-up and Diogo Dalot took his place.
United put Brighton under constant pressure and took the lead rightly.
Nemanja Matic's cross-field pbad found Pogba, whose first contact made him pbad Gaetan Bong. The defender then pushed him awkwardly.
The French striker has not completely disappeared, but that has nothing to do with his 26-step effort against Everton in October and his shot against David Button.
Rashford's recent goals continued as he clinched his ninth spot of the season and his fifth place under Solskjaer.
The English striker was played by Dalot, sent Gross in the wrong direction and then bent his shot in the top corner.
Rashford was excellent for the first hour, spraying the pbades with confidence and scoring a superb cross for Jesse Lingard, who shot at the post when he really should have scored.
They should have had more to show after their 20 attempts, but only five were on target, with Pogba and Anthony Martial guilty.
United slowed down in the last 20 minutes, lacking sharpness and became sloppy while it was missing a fourth consecutive white sheet.
"Today, we have been tested," said Solskjaer. "I did not think we had played the game as we should have, it may be the next challenge for boys.
"Sometimes we do a difficult job, I thought we played some very good things at times, and at the beginning of the second half, we could have ended the match with a good chance.
"In the last 20 minutes we've had problems, we can not always play fantastic football, sometimes we did it and it's a great three points."
More day blues for Brighton
Chris Hughton's team has won eight points ahead of Amex Stadium this season and has more than four wins away since coming into the Premier League last season.
They fight especially against the best teams After the defeat of Liverpool last week and the defeat of Saturday at Old Trafford, they have now lost their nine games in the Premier League against the "big six" by a total score of 19-2.
The first half against United proved to be damaging, as they rarely threatened and struggled to cope with the hosts' line of attack.
A double change at the time with the introductions of Florin Andone and Anthony Knockaert gave the offensive momentum the Seagulls needed.
Davy Propper did well to create Gross's goal, scoring a pbad on the outside of Victor Lindelof's head to the German, who scolded him and shot in the goal.
Brighton finished the strongest, their attacks and crossovers triggered panic in the United team, but it came too late.
"The biggest disappointment is the goals we have conceded," said Hughton. "I thought we gave them a lot.
"We will need a lot of things at the end of the season but I thought we had a chance for us today.
"We needed a little more quality in the last third and in general."
When asked about bringing players in January, he added, "You can never say never, but I do not think it will, maybe one or two will be on loan."
Man of the Match – Marcus Rashford
A superb offensive performance of the 21-year-old, who scored his 41st goal for the club. He has scored more than any other player for United since his debut in February 2016
On the form of Rashford, Solskjaer said, "What a finish, that's the first thing I told him when I met him.He missed a few opportunities and I said" no of problem, everything is fine, stop a little bit ".
Pogba equal the best goals – The best statistics
- Solskjaer is only the third coach in the history of the Premier League to win his first six games at the head of a club, after Carlo Ancelotti with Chelsea and Pep Guardiola with Manchester City
- United has won more penalties (seven) while Brighton has conceded more (as many as seven) than any other Premier League team this season
- Pogba's goal was his eighth in the Premier League this season, matching his best return in one season in the top five European leagues (also eight with Juventus in 2014-15 and 2015-16).
- Rashford has now scored in his last four Premier League games. Anthony Martial (five) is the only one to have had a better performance this season.
And after?
United will travel to Emirates Stadium to face Arsenal in the fourth round of the FA Cup on Friday (19:55 GMT), a live match on BBC One. They then welcome Burnley into the league on January 29th.
Brighton will also compete in the World Cup and host West Brom on Saturday at 15:00 GMT. The Seagulls will then travel to Fulham, struggling in the Premier League on Jan. 29.
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