Jose Mourinho Admits Brighton Were Man Utd's Hardest Opponents So Far This Season After Narrow Win

Jose Mourinho has admitted that Brighton gave him and his United side their toughest game of the season so far after they narrowly won 1-0 against the newly promoted side.

Brighton were solid in defence and looked threatening on the counter attack, however an unfortunate own goal by Lewis Dunk midway through the second half was enough to give the home side all three points.

Speaking to BBC Sport after the game, when asked if there was a touch of relief about the win, Mourinho said: "Yes. It was a very difficult game against a brilliant opponent defending well but with a very dangerous counter attack.

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"We didn't play especially well, we played with a lot of attacking players but lost control in midfield with (Dale) Stephens playing completely free out of position, a difficult game for Pogba and Matic, and our attacking players didn't participate too much in the spaces we wanted to use.

"We didn't play well, but played with great heart and great spirit in the second half to try and get in front, and in the last 15 minutes when they pressed us a little bit more again a great effort to try to keep the clean sheet and get the points."

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He was then asked if he was worried prior to the goal if his side would be able to find the breakthrough, to which he replied: "No, I still had attacking players on the pitch to change the direction of the game, we had Fellaini on the bench to try different things in terms of attacking but then the goal came.

"When the goal came I was in a bit of a dilemma as I wanted to take Pogba out, but Rashford was in a bad mood in the game and was limping a little bit, so rather than changing Fellaini for Pogba, I needed Fellaini and Pogba together on the pitch to control what could've arrived from a corner or a free kick where they were really strong."

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He then took the time to congratulate Brighton for their performance today, saying: "Many many congratulations to Brighton, because a few months ago they were playing in the Championship, now they've come to Old Trafford and they gave us probably our hardest match this season."

The win means United have closed the gap on league leaders Manchester City to five points - who travel to Huddersfield on Sunday - and have now won all 10 games they've played at home so far this season.