Player Ratings: Mbeumo shines as United build momentum after victory against Brighton | OneFootball

Ruben Amorim earned a third consecutive win for the first time as Manchester United boss, although at times the result seemed to hang in the balance.

A brace from Bryan Mbeumo, along with goals from Casemiro and Matheus Cunha, was enough for United to secure all three points and move into the top four.

Here are FromTheSpot’s player ratings from the clash:

Man United

Senne Lammens: 7

The Belgian is quickly establishing himself as United’s number one goalkeeper, after doubts were cast over their strength in the position.

Lammens produced a decent save to stop Danny Welbeck in the first half and before denying a rocket shot from Kadioglu late on. If Welbeck had scored, the game would’ve played out differently otherwise.

United have only won once this season after conceding first, at Liverpool, and Harry Maguire wasn’t on the pitch to bail them out.

Luke Shaw: 7

It was a good defensive shift from the versatile defender, winning two important battles against Georginio Rutter which led to two of United’s goals.

Mathias de Ligt, Lanny Yoro: 6

A largely solid performance from Shaw’s defensive colleagues, though Yankuba Minteh slipped too easily through the middle in the second half. He was brought down, and Welbeck converted the resulting free kick.

Amad Diallo: 5

Not much to report here, a quiet game for the winger before being replaced in the 70th minute by the more defensively-minded Patrick Dorgu.

Bruno Fernandes: 7

It was a lively showing from the captain, who nearly opened the scoring in minute one.

Depsite no goal involvements, he amounted to 0.36 xGA and made six passes into the final third, consistently moving his side forward.

While he is reluctant to quash rumors of a move to Saudi Arabia until after next year’s World Cup, the midfielder appears characteristically committed to the United cause.

Casemiro: 8

The Brazilian simply did the simple things right. Just as a defensive midfielder should.

Setting up Matheus Cunha for his goal before not passing on the opportunity to try his luck from distance, a blinding first half set the tone for the evening.

He was taken off before Brighton’s late fightback, and with 12 defensive contributions may well have helped put a stop to it.

Diogo Dalot: 6

Not a great nor bad game for the wing-back, who played the full 90 minutes and saw all of the scare late on in the second half.

Matheus Cunha: 8

With no goals in 16 appearances for club and country, this one will mean a lot to Cunha.

The Portuguese international rolled back the months to a very productive season in front of goal with Wolves, effortlessly curling in the opener. He’ll do well to put the run behind him and use the momentum to score more.

Bryan Mbeumo: 9

The best player all evening, no two ways about it.

United brought Mbeumo in from Brentford to do one thing – exactly what he was doing under Thomas Frank: Score goals.

They came at hugely consequential moments in the game, putting United into cruise control before pouncing onto Ayden Heaven’s clearance in a flash.

Not a bad day at all, scoring two of his three shots on goal.

Benjamin Šeško: 7

Although he couldn’t continue his scoring run from two Premier League starts, Benjamin Šeško was involved in United’s third.

Showing great vision to find Mbeumo in a dangerous position infield, a goal contribution will do his confidence the whole world of good.

Brighton

Bart Verbruggen: 5

After an unlucky first half, including a wicked deflection that completely took Casemiro’s drive from distance away from him, it turned into a pretty torrid evening for Verbruggen.

Five saves was not enough to keep United out, after a poor showing from Brighton’s midfield in particular, but he can walk away knowing it could’ve been more.

Maxime de Cuyper, Lewis Dunk, Jan Paul van Hecke, Mats Wieffer: 4

Less unfortunate than their goalkeeper were Brighton’s defence, who simply couldn’t contain the likes of Cunha and Mbeumo.

One could argue that they both had too much time on the edge of their penalty area and inside of it to get their strikes away.

Questions will also be raised for van Hecke, who twice played it into Georginio Rutter with his back to goal – the midfielder was dispossessed twice, and United scored twice.

Yasin Ayari, Carlos Baleba, Georginio Rutter: 5

Brighton’s midfield was sloppy, repeatedly conceding possession deep in their own half and never looked comfortable under the Old Trafford floodlights.

It seemed that communication was a constant issue, Rutter’s battle with Luke Shaw twice ending up leading to a goal.

While eyes will look to the Frenchman, his teammates couldn’t find the space nor time to offer a way out of the United press.

For a man linked heavily with a move to Old Trafford not long ago, it was hardly a successful audition for Baleba.

Yankuba Minteh: 6

It was a promising display from one of Fabian Hürzeler’s key outlets going forward.

Two goals down, he remained determined to pull his side forward single-handedly at times, once running at Lenny Yoro and almost carving out an opportunity to get the shot away.

Breaking away through the middle again with great pace and being brought down by Dorgu, meaning Welbeck could convert a nice free kick and get Brighton going.

Ferdi Kadioglu: 6

Also, one of the players involved as the away side flourished late on was Turkish winger Kadioglu, coming close to a great long-range goal only to be denied by an in-form Lammens.

Danny Welbeck: 7

It was written in the stars for Welbeck, the former Man United striker, to mark another return to Old Trafford with a goal.

It was some goal too, curling home a free kick that didn’t quite make it to the top left corner but didn’t have to – the power enough for it to sail into the net and deny United’s new number one a second clean sheet.

James Milner, Charalampos Kostoulas: 7

Two decent calls from Fabian Hürzeler: the assister and scorer of Brighton’s second, their way back into the game.

Milner has been an ever-consistent performer in the Premier League, a testament to his remarkable longevity in world football’s top division.

It was a pinpoint corner into the near post that was headed home by the teenage prospect Kostoulas, who will have impressed his manager with his contribution after making the move from Olympiakos.

There’s a decent chance the Greek will feature again in the near future.