Man Utd 2 Brighton 1: Paul Pogba and Marcus Rashford put Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in seventh heaven

Goals from Paul Pogba and Marcus Rashford saw Manchester United beat Brighton 2-1 to earn Ole Gunnar Solskjaer his seventh win in a row in all competitions as caretaker manager.

United and Brighton both named unchanged sides for Saturday's Premier League clash at Old Trafford, though Solskjaer was forced into a late pre-match change as Diogo Dalot started after Luke Shaw was taken ill.

Shaw aside, Solskjaer stuck with the team that won 1-0 at Tottenham last weekend, but Alexis Sanchez returned to the bench after a hamstring complaint.

United started brightly and were awarded a penalty after Pogba was challenged by Gaetan Bong after 27 minutes.

The France World Cup winner made no mistake as took another slow run-up to the penalty spot and fired the ball into the bottom-right corner to hand the hosts the lead.

Rashford doubled United's lead three minutes before the break in fine style, collecting the ball from Diogo Dalot and shook off Pascal Gross before sending a shot into the top corner.

United went in search of a third goal after the break, but it was Brighton who were next on the scoresheet as Gross finished deftly with 18 minutes left to set nerves jangling at Old Trafford.

However, United held on for a valuable victory to further boost their top four hopes, and add to the growing calls for Solskjaer to be given the manager's job on a full-time basis.