Attention will usually focus upon Manchester United when they lose at home, but for Brighton, winning at Old Trafford deserves greater praise.
There is a trope among Brighton & Hove Albion supporters that has become increasingly popular and prevalent in recent times. With every ‘surprise’ Premier League win that their team achieves, fans will search Twitter for the phrase ‘teams like Brighton’ and gleefully share what they find.
It is a particular joy to revel in the peculiar entitlement of some fans of other clubs, that they should be beating ‘smaller’ teams just by existing and regardless of any other considerations.
And this has become increasingly familiar over the last couple of years or so. Over the last two seasons, Brighton have beaten Spurs (twice), Manchester City, Arsenal and, following Sunday afternoon’s events at Old Trafford, Manchester United twice.
After a 2-1 win in their opening game of the 2022/23 season, there were few signs that things are going to change anytime soon.
That the media reaction to this result should have been so focussed on that perpetually cracked Manchester United badge is no great surprise. Not only are they the most-supported club in England, but the global nature of news delivery in an online world means that ‘traffic’ to new stories isn’t solely dictated from this country. The Premier League has a global audience nowadays, and it’s already a recognised phenomenon that interest in the Premier League from abroad is heavily concentrated on the ‘Big Six’ clubs.
But none of this means that what Brighton have achieved these last few years shouldn’t go without recognition. The story of the club’s ascent to the Premier League is well-told, from the malignant club owners who sold the club’s ground and then condemned them to two years of playing their home matches 70 miles away in Brighton, to their return to the town and their eventual move to a stadium, the construction of which was funded by a professional gambler and lifelong fan, has been well told.
It’s a somewhat different matter when it comes to demonstrating that they are plenty capable of mixing it in the top half of the Premier League.
Within 15 seconds of kick-off at Old Trafford they’d hit the side-netting, and by half-time Pascal Gross had scored twice to give them a two-goal lead.
An own goal halved the deficit midway through the second half after Brighton had been denied what looked like a pretty clear penalty by…
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