Premier League issue statement after "scandalous" decision in Man Utd's 3-1 loss to Brighton

Manchester United’s positive run of results to start 2025 came to an abrupt halt on Sunday afternoon as they were beaten 3-1 by Brighton and Hove Albion at Old Trafford. The visitors took the lead in the fifth minute through Yankuba Minteh before Bruno Fernandes levelled from the penalty spot.

In the second half Kaoru Mitoma put the away side ahead on the hour mark before ex-Leeds United man Georginio Rutter made it 3-1 as he pounced on a costly error from Andre Onana, with the United goalkeeper failing to gather ball into the box. Antony was named in the squad despite an expected loan move to Real Betis while Marcus Rashford was again absent.

United boss Ruben Amorim reflected: “The opponent is better than us in many details, that we cannot be consistent, that I am not helping my players in the moment. It's a hard moment and we have to acknowledge we are in a very difficult situation, all the bad records - losing games at home, losing games in the Premier League. We are really underperforming and we need to win games, that's all.

“I knew it was going to be hard to put in a completely new idea in the moment. But when you lose games, you don't have that luck to win three games in a row, it's becoming really hard. That's why I'm telling [you] we are going to suffer because I'm going to continue to do the same. To help my players is to give them the tools to play this way, but, without training, it is really hard. Then, without training and losing games. You could feel it in the end of the game, everybody was changing position, and that is something I will not see again. We can lose, but we will not change position.”

Premier League release statement on VAR decision

Joao Pedro initially thought he was the one to put Brighton 2-1 up as he fired past Onana early in the second half. However, VAR intervened with referee Peter Bankes told to review a possible foul on Diogo Dalot in the build-up, with the official opting to overturn the goal. A statement from the Premier League Match Centre read: “The referee’s call of goal was checked by VAR, who deemed there was a foul by van Hecke on Dalot in the build-up and recommended an on-field review. The referee overturned the original decision and the goal was disallowed.”

Pundit and presenter for beIN Sports, Richard Keys, was shocked by the decision to disallow the goal. He said: “They’re having a laugh. What a disgrace disallowing that Brighton goal. Absolute joke. Scandalous.”

Brighton boss reacts to win

Seagulls boss Fabian Hurzeler felt his side were worthy winners in Manchester, as he said: “It was a good game for us. After the first goal we got a bit passive but after they scored we dominated and controlled the game. We deserved to win.“We changed some small margins at half-time which made us stronger and of course we had some great individual quality on the pitch. It’s all about how intense you press and stay in your structure and we did that well.

“In the Premier League every game is competitive and unpredictable. You have to work for the momentum you make and in the last two games and in the FA Cup game we’ve had that belief. If you can outwork an opponent then you can outplay them and I’m happy that we’ve been able to do that in the recent games. We have believers in our squad and that’s important.”