Pascal Gross has been handed the captain’s armband as Brighton and Hove Albion face Manchester United at Old Trafford in their third round League Cup tie this evening (Wednesday 16 September).
Fabian Hürzeler and Michael Carrick have both named strong sides although a number of key players are on the bench including Albion’s club captain Lewis Dunk.
And United’s £70 million signing from Brighton, Carlos Baleba, remains unavailable because of an ankle injury.
Jason Steele is back between the sticks for Brighton, with Bart Verbruggen on the bench. In front of Steele are Albion’s £46 million record signing Luka Vuskovic, Pascal Struijk and Olivier Boscagli.
Charalampos “Babis” Kostoulas is spearheading the attack, with a midfield that includes Gross, Joao Costinha, Chema Andrés, Jaouen Hadjam, Matt O’Riley and Malick Yalcouye.
As well as Dunk and Verbruggen, the subs are Yasin Ayari, Promise David, Maxim De Cuyper, Diego Gomez, Ferdi Kadioglu, Ibrahim Osman and Georginio Rutter.
In January, Brighton knocked Man United out of the FA Cup with a 2-1 win at Old Trafford. It helped put paid to Darren Fletcher’s hopes of becoming the club’s permanent boss.
United’s form and self-belief has improved markedly under Carrick but his side lost 1-0 at home to Manchester City in the Premier League at the weekend while Brighton crushed Coventry City 5-0.
Youri Tielemans is down to skipper United in the 8pm kick off in a side that includes Leny Yoro, Mason Mount, Diogo Dalot, Benjamin Sesko and Marcus Rashford.
The United bench includes Bruno Fernandes, Harry Maguire, Kobbie Mainoo, Bryan Mbeumo, Matheus Cunha and Joshua Zirkzee.
The referee is Farai Hallam.
