Manchester United beat Brighton with last-gasp Bruno Fernandes penalty

It was an occasion when Ole Gunnar Solsjkær was reminded of the adage about how it is better to be a lucky general. His Manchester United team got their first points of the Premier League season after a heavy-legged performance that lacked direction for long spells and a finale that could be best described as bonkers but what made the difference for them in the final analysis was the framework of David de Gea’s goal.

Almost ridiculously, Brighton rattled the posts and crossbar a total of five times, with Leandro Trossard doing so three times. The Brighton attacker will surely find himself as the answer to a trivia question in years to come relating to the most unfortunate of hat-tricks. Adam Webster and Solly March were also denied. Since Opta began compiling statistics for hitting the woodwork in 2003, no team had previously done so more than three times in a single Premier League game.

Related: Brighton 2-3 Manchester United: Premier League – live!

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