Pedro scores late to secure a dramatic victory for Brighton against Manchester United.

Joao Pedro’s header in the 95th minute earned Brighton & Hove Albion a dramatic 2-1 victory at the Amex Stadium, marking their fifth win in the last six encounters against Manchester United.

Both teams began their campaigns with wins last weekend, but Brighton’s 3-0 thrashing of Everton was notably more impressive than United’s narrow late win over Fulham.

Brighton started strong on the South Coast, with Joao Pedro’s early shot from outside the area being the first attempt from either side around the 10-minute mark.

Manchester United were steady but uninspired, and Amad Diallo missed a golden opportunity when he failed to convert a superb cross from Diogo Dalot at the back post.

Despite a busy summer for Brighton, which included seven new signings and potential additions in Ferdi Kadıoğlu and Matt O’Reilly, it was one of their seasoned players who opened the scoring. With 31 minutes gone, Kaoru Mitoma delivered a low cross to the back post, where Danny Welbeck, a former United player, bundled the ball into the net.

United thought they had equalized shortly after, but Marcus Rashford was flagged offside when he scored on his second attempt from close range.

The Red Devils were unable to mount a significant challenge for the remainder of the first half and struggled after the break as well. Brighton nearly doubled their lead when Welbeck’s header from close range struck the crossbar.Eventually, the visitors began to show their quality and equalized with about 30 minutes to play.

A clever through ball from Noussair Mazraoui found Amad Diallo, who drove into the box and scored with a shot that took a deflection off Jan Paul Van Hecke.

Both teams pressed forward in search of a winner, and the game’s decisive moment nearly arrived during a thrilling end-to-end sequence.

Brighton had a numerical advantage in the attacking third, but Yankuba Minteh’s poor decision-making allowed United to launch a counterattack.

Although they managed to put the ball in the net again when substitute Joshua Zirkzee redirected Alejandro Garnacho’s shot into an empty goal, the effort was ruled out for offside. Zirkzee’s positioning was deemed offside, an unfortunate turn of events for Erik ten Hag’s side, especially since Garnacho’s initial shot would have likely found the net regardless.