Manchester United striker issues stern warning to Brighton after Crystal Palace shambles

Nigeria international Odion Ighalo started in attack for United in their 3-0 Carbao Cup victory against Luton Town in midweek as they bounced back from their painful 3-1 Premier League loss to Crystal Palace last weekend.

Ighalo could not open his own account for the season but the striker, on loan from Shanghai Shenhua, feels the result and the extra game-time against the Hatters can better prepare United for their return to Premier League action at Brighton on Saturday.

“We were disappointed at the weekend because we didn’t win the game against Crystal Palace." Ighalo said.

“We only had one week to prepare for that game; I think they had been preparing for four weeks. So it can tell a bit. But, now we’ve won this game, I think it’s a boost for us.

“It gives us more confidence to go to this weekend’s game. Hopefully we’ll win this weekend and start on a good note in the Premier League.

“You can see we are getting fitter and everybody’s getting the sharpness. Everyone’s getting the game-time, getting fitter and fitter in every game.

“Now we go to the next game and have some minutes again and keep getting better and better.”

United will visit the AMEX Stadium in the Premier League on Saturday before returning to the south coast in midweek for a fourth-round contest in the League Cup.

“We go into a game on Saturday, that’s where our focus is," said Albion head coach Graham Potter. "We’ll see how that goes and try to prepare as well as we can and put on a good performance against a side that finished in the Champions League places.

“It’s exciting, whether we play Saturday-Tuesday or Saturday-Wednesday we’ll look forward to that first game and then see what happens.”