Manchester United vs Brighton, FA Cup quarter-final: live score updates

Brighton are enjoying the ball at the moment. They have time and space in the United half, nobody's closing them down, and Locadia takes a shot from 20 yards which Romero has to save at the bottom corner. 

GROSS! Goes close. A rhyme! Hooray. Anyway, Brighton attack down the left, the ball is cut inside and Gross sees Smalling coming towards him and slices through the ball, drilling it low towards the bottom corner but just the wrong side of the post.

Smalling out-muscles Ulloa. Schelotto gets caught out of position but Lukaku doesn't really seem to realise it early enough and Dunk follows him wide to win the ball. Throw-in. 

More of the same so far. Brighton want to counter-attack, United passing patiently/slowly.

 Aaaaaand that might be the end of Luke Shaw's Man Utd career. He's been subbed at half time for Ashley Young. Let's see if that's because of an injury... otherwise... it's not good.

Brighton have been good but just don't have the players to punish a very ordinary looking Man Utd team. They've been pretty slow, have hardly threatened... and if Brighton had players to really take advantage of the weaknesses the scoreline might be quite different.

The BT Sport panel have pointed out that Mourinho has been up on his feet all through the game urging his players to attack. I can't remember him doing that too many times before.

United have the lead without reeeeeeeeally pushing Brighton for it. Hughton will be disappointed to be behind.

Brighton attack and get a couple of decent crosses into the area but Romero deals with them. They're looking for an equaliser before half time but United are keeping things tidy to make sure they see it out.

Gross gives the ball away and Martial is onto it! United have men over! But the ball is passed straight to the Brighton defence.

Brighton are keeping a compact shape as United get men forward and Valencia is able to run into the box but has no options, such are the numbers back defending.

United seem a lot happier since that goal and are stroking the ball around with purpose in the Brighton half.

But that doesn't matter! United are patient in their build-up play, Matic has it wide left and hits a brilliant cross with pace and dip towards Lukaku. He finishes the job at close range.

74 per cent possession to Brighton in the last five minutes.

Another dangerous Brighton move is intercepted by McTominay in his own six yard box. Luke Shaw isn't offering much of a battle down that left side for United.

The corner is good.. and HEADED AT GOAL! Dunk has a free header but Romero is equal to it. There's such a lack of fight in this United team. They look really short of confidence.

This is what United's shape looks like at the moment. That area is where Brighton are keeping the ball when they have possession. Their first plan of attack is still high balls over the top for the forwards to chase though.

This is better from United! They get to the final third and ping a one-two move together that gives Mata the chance to shoot! Corner! That is curled into the box, comes off a defender and lands with Smalling inside the six yard box! He must score! But he's put it wide!!!

United's defensive midfielders are so deep! There's a huge gap between defensive midfield and their attackers, and Brighton are using that space to keep possession.

Brighton look more likely to score than United at the moment! Their attacking play is much more fluid and direct. A low cross into the box is cleared behind by Bailly. Corner.

It's headed away by Lukaku and falls with March about 30 yards out. He shoots! But that effort will be more use to Brighton as an asteroid repellent than attempt on goal.

Schelotto runs in behind Martial, who stops! He's just offside but he's able to run clean in behind the defence and nearly beats Romero to the ball too. Martial completely switched off there, as though he didn't realise it was his job to track that ball over the top.

Mourinho doesn't look happy on the touchline. His team have started without that aggression and desire he needs from them and Brighton have grown into the game. 

But that's a dreadful mistake as a pass back to the goalkeeper is put out for a corner. United come up the pitch to take it, go short, take forever with their passes... and Martial bends a cross into Lukaku! Headed away.

This is a good spell of possession for Brighton. They've got United on the back foot and that defence doesn't look incredibly confident when balls are put into the area. 

Brighton take their turn to keep the ball for a bit but they're looking for big switched passes to move United around and then get forward from there. Gross has the ball on the right and beats Shaw, then cuts back and loses control. Throw-in. 

United totally in control of possession but their passing is slow and predictable. Always sideways. Martial passes to Lingard, who shoots from 25 yards... it swerves way wide of goal.

Hughton is up on the touchline yelling instructions at his players as to who and when to press. His team is clearly looking for long balls over the top on a counter-attack. They're sitting deep and filling the space in their own half. 

But Valencia has found some space on the right! He crosses in towards Lukaku, who does well to get ahead of the defender but shoots high and wide. 

The fans are in good voice tonight, though that could be the away fans I can hear. I don't fancy having to head back to Brighton in this weather! Mata is drifting all around the final third into space and linking United's passing moves. Smalling really doesn't want to have the ball at his feet and passes it to someone else as soon as he has it.

United are really taking their time with the passes. It's like a La Liga game and Brighton look dangerous on the counter-attack. 

 It's also quite cool that you can see the passing lines on the snow!

Brighton are keeping United in their own half. The central defenders are passing sideways rather than bringing it out from the back but United work their way forward eventually. Martial comes inside from the left and lines up a shot... deflection... corner.

United are a 4-2-3-1 and the ball is slowing in the settling snow as they pass it around their own half from kick-off. Bailly misses a bouncing ball from a Brighton clearance and fouls the striker nipping onto it, play continues, Brighton win a throw-in.

 Here we go! Brighton have never won at Old Trafford - could that change tonight? 

The snow is absolutely pelting down! Weird. 

Jose Mourinho

"Important, very important. Especially because it's a knock-out match. If we want to stay in the competition we have to win!

"They improve at every level. They were difficult when they came in the Premier League, of course experience improve, couple of new players, amazing work by Chris. They don't have anything to lose, they are in a good position in the league, they are relaxed I expect."

Chris Hughton

"I'm not sure of freedom and enjoyment! We're here for a reason against a team who are clear favourites but we've been competitive in recent games."

It's a big call but if you've seen United play recently, you'll almost certainly agree with Mourinho's decision to drop both. They have been dreadful. Sanchez looks like he's chasing his own shadow, hitting passes to nobody, lifting high passes into the area to particular target and then yelling at teammates for various reasons.

The pitch should still be OK to play on but if snow keeps falling like it has done today, it'll make things interesting. 

If you haven't yet caught up with Jose Mourinho's 12-minute ramblings in his press conference yesterday, now is the time to do so. You can read the entire transcript HERE.

Here is how it all began:

I say to the fans that the fans are the fans, and the fans have the right to have their opinions and to have their reactions.

"But there is something that I used to call football heritage - I try to translate from my Portuguese, which is almost perfect to my English that is far from perfect.

"But translation, word by word is something like football heritage and what a manager inherits is something like is that the last time Manchester United won the Champions League, which didn't happen a lot of times, was in 2008. The (last) final was 2011...

Alexis Sanchez starts a Manchester United match on the bench for the first time since his January arrival, with Paul Pogba another among the substitutes.

Sanchez has flattered to deceive since his high-profile arrival and is part of a strong-looking bench named by United manager Jose Mourinho.

Scott McTominay, Luke Shaw and Anthony Martial are among those to come into the United side, while goalkeeper Tim Krul is part of Brighton's five alterations.

Manchester United: Romero, Valencia, Bailly, Smalling, Shaw, Matic, McTominay, Mata, Lingard, Martial, Lukaku. Subs: De Gea, Lindelof, Young, Fellaini, Pogba, Sanchez, Rashford

Brighton: Krul, Schelotto, Dunk, Duffy, Suttner, Kayal, Propper, Gross, Locadia, Ulloa, March. Subs: Maenpaa, Bruno, Goldson, Sanders, Izquierdo, Baldock, Murray.

Referee: Andre Marriner

What is it?

Manchester United vs Brighton in the sixth round of the FA Cup. Both sides' only hope of silverware this season.

When is it?

Saturday the 17th of March, also known as Paddy's Day.

What time is kick-off?

A Saturday prime time viewing 7:45pm!

What TV channel is it on?

BT Sport 1 from 7:30pm, straight after the Liverpool game has finished.

What is the team news?

Phil Jones, Marcos Rojo, Daley Blind, Ander Herrera and Zlatan Ibrahimovic are all ruled out through injury but Jose Mourinho is likely to make changes to his team after a disappointing performance in defeat to Sevilla midweek. 

Speaking of Mourinho, he went full Benitez with his written press conference rant following the Champions League exit, including:

• Midfielder Nemanja Matic and striker Romelu Lukaku were the only players who had delivered consistently all season and that “many Sevilla players” would walk into his United side.
• The challenge of trying to topple City was similar to the task he faced overhauling Barcelona with Real Madrid but warned at the Bernabeu he possessed “a nucleus of players of a really high level”.
• His squad must “grow up” and match the “high expectations” of fans.
• United could remain “side by side” with City if their rivals stop spending but otherwise City will be “difficult” to catch.
• Ed Woodward, United’s executive vice-chairman, was “on exactly the same page” and recognised the huge job at hand and need to spend.

Brighton are missing Anthony Knockaert through suspension and Dale Stephens and Gaetan Bong are both doubtful, nursing little injuries. Steve Sidwell is still also stuck in the physio room. 

What are the odds?

Man Utd 3/10

Draw 9/2

Brighton 12/1

What's our prediction?

Mourinho will demand a reaction from his players but his method of winning knock out competitions - something he's done a great many times - is with defensive football. Expect a rigid, cautious approach from Man Utd, soundtracked by an increasingly agitated crowd - that is unless United score early. Brighton will push them close and might even score but there should be more than enough talent in Mourinho's starting XI to see them off.

Man Utd 2 Brighton 1