Brighton v Manchester United: FA Cup semi-final – live

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28 min If necessary, this game will go extra-time and penalties.

27 min The injuries have halted the momentum of the game, at least for now. Brighton are still slightly the better side, though there’s very little in it.

26 min And now Rashford is down, having worn Gross’s elbow in the ribs. He’s fine.

25 min Fernandes is going to continue, though he also isn’t moving brilliantly. He hasn’t missed a game through injury in his entire career, according to Transfermarkt, so it’ll be weird if he goes off.

23 min Now Bruno Fernandes is down, and he’s not crying wolf. Like March, he got his right ankle stuck in the turf. It doesn’t reflect well on the pitch when that happens twice in five minutes.

21 min This doesn’t look good for March. His ankle got stuck as he was challenged by Dalot, so for a split-second his weight was going in a ligament-busting direction. He’s going to continue but he’s not moving freely.

19 min Solly March, who has started the game superbly, is down after getting his right ankle stuck in the turf.

18 min “I’m one of those guys,” says Joe Pearson. “I love that both teams are wearing their first-choice kits!”

It could only have been better had then both been allowed to wear 1983 kits for the day. Both were things of beauty: here’s Brighton’s, and here’s United’s, though it looks better with the SHARP ELECTRONICS logo.

17 min This is heating up nicely. Antony wanders infield and then sweeps a pass back outside to Fernandes in the area. His flicked shot from 12 yards is really well blocked by Dunk.

17 min March and Gross are causing United problems on that side of the field.

16 min Gross gets to the byline in the area and pulls the ball back dangerously. Welbeck can’t get a proper touch at the near post – that was a chance – and then Mitoma slices wide on the turn.

14 min: Good save from Sanchez. Eriksen plays a nice early pass to Fernandes, unmarked just outside the area. He turns and smacks an impatient curler across that is pushed away by Sanchez. On reflection, it was a pretty comfortable save.

13 min A half chance for Enciso. March played a good ball round the corner to Gross, who angled it back to Enciso just inside the area. He flipped the ball up but then poked a volley well wide of the far post.

12 min Brighton are playing some really nice stuff, and Casemiro had already had to put out two or three fires.

11 min There’s a brief appeal for a penalty when the ball hits Dalot’s shoulder in the United area. Nothing doing.

9 min Nothing comes of the corner. De Gea then almost puts Rashford through on goal with a deliberate long pass, but the ball runs away from him and Sanchez comes to the edge of his area to claim.

7 mi Mac Allister’s free-kick is pawed round the post by de Gea, leaping to his left. He didn’t get the cleanest touch – he may have lost it in the sun – and almost pushed it into his own net.

6 min Mitoma cuts inside from the left and is fouled clumsily by Antony, right on the edge of the area. This is a chance for Brighton, with Mac Allister over the ball.

4 min Brighton’s attacking shape is fascinating. As I type, they effectively have a midfield box of Mac Allister and Caicedo, then Enciso and Welbeck, with Mitoma and March closest to the United goal. It’s a fat Y-shape, essentially.

3 min Casemiro finds Rashford in space on the left. He runs at the backpedalling Gross, all to the way to the edge of the area, but then his pass towards Martial is cut out by Webster.

3 min “Watching on my wife’s phone on the train back from a family holiday in Switzerland,” says Jonathan Harding. “Was there for the last semifinal. Can’t believe we’re back. I remember Walsall away. We have indeed come a long, long way. Hoping for a special day but already so proud to be a Seagull. These are magical days!”

2 min United are playing 4-1-2-3 rather than 4-2-1-3, with Eriksen pushing up against Moises Caicedo. It’ll be Fernandes v Mac Allister and Casemiro v Enciso.

1 min Peep peep! Danny Welbeck gets the game under way.

“Genuinely neutral here and hoping for a classic,” says Simon McMahon. “Much to admire about both teams and managers, though I think the only way this Brighton team could endear itself to neutrals any further is if they were to sign a 56-year-old former Japan international who then comes off the bench to score the winner in the cup final…

The atmosphere at Wembley – and we can’t always say this – is tremendous. This could/should/will be a cracker.

Kick-off is imminent, so let’s have a reminder of the teams.

Brighton (4-2-4) Sanchez; Gross. Webster, Dunk, Estupinan; Caicedo, Mac Allister; March, Welbeck, Enciso, Mitoma.
Substitutes: Steele, Colwill, Undav, Ayari, Gilmour, Van Hecke, Veltman, Buonanotte, Offiah.

Man Utd (possible 4-2-1-3) De Gea; Wan-Bissaka, Lindelof, Shaw, Dalot; Casemiro, Eriksen; Fernandes; Antony, Martial, Rashford.
Substitutes: Butland, Malacia, Williams, Fred, Pellistri, Sabitzer, Elanga, Sancho, Weghorst.

“Afternoon Rob!” says Rob Wolf Petersen. “Don’t have anything profound to say. Just wanted to say hi from a sports bar in Canggu, Bali. Managed to meet another Seagulls fan and couldn’t be more excited for the game! UTA!”

I can’t remember a more mouthwatering FA Cup semi-final in the last 15-20 years. Surely this can’t be dull.

“I used to think ‘and Smith must score’ was a bit harsh,” says Niall Mullen, “that it wasn’t that easy a chance. But, watching it again recently, he really should’ve scored.”

I don’t think it’s that bad – it’s not like he launched it towards Enfield. It’s the context that makes it so famous I guess. Also, of course, we didn’t have xG in 1983. Looking back, they were chilling times.

This is a cracking piece on how Tony Bloom’s gambler’s instinct made Brighton the pride of an entire town.

If the phrases “And Smith must score…” and “And Wilkins has curled one” mean nothing to you, you’re in for a treat: the story of an FA Cup final, 40 years ago, that was memorable for all kinds of reasons. It’s the only time Brighton have played in an FA Cup final. Yet.

“I might mention that, while both have some injured players, only one of these clubs played a European knockout game midweek away from home, but quite honestly I’m much too stunned by Anthony ‘Rock Solid’ Martial’s two-game starting streak,” says Duncan Edwards. “Agree with you about Fred. Hopefully I’ll soon be eating humble pie served by the Frenchman and Eriksen! Good luck to both teams.”

It’s four starts in a row for Martial, isn’t it? He’s yet to play 90 minutes this season though.

“Can you help a confused Seagulls fan understand this emotion?” says John Roach. “We’re in the FA Cup semi-final, we’re playing Man Utd and we’re favourites to win! (Not forgetting we have a teenager making his first start!!) I think the mix of anticipation and excitement is making me dizzy. Is this normal?”

Nothing about it is normal, which is why it’s so beautiful.

Premier League results

• Bournemouth 0-4 West Ham

• Newcastle 6-1 Tottenham Hotspur

Yep, and Newcastle were 5-0 up after 21 minutes.

Manchester United have had an – excuse me – damn fine season. And yet, one of the words Erik ten Hag has used most often is ‘unacceptable’

It’s 14 years since a teenage Danny Welbeck started an FA Cup semi-final for Manchester United against Everton. With Evan Ferguson injured, he starts up front today. He remains a fine player and an even better bloke, as evidenced in this lovely interview.

Team news

Roberto De Zerbi has picked a very attacking Brighton side, with Pascal Gross at right-back. It’s the team that played most most of the second half at Stamford Bridge last week, with Danny Welbeck and Julio Enciso – who came off the bench to score the goals at Chelsea – in for the injured Evan Ferguson and Joel Veltman.

Veltman, who went off at Chelsea with a hamstring problem, is on the bench today. So is Jason Steele, who had been the first-choice goalkeeper until he missed last weekend’s game through injury. Robert Sanchez’s inclusion might just be an FA Cup thing; we’ll find out on Wednesday. Oh, and Enciso is making his first start for the club in either an FA Cup or Premier League game.

Erik ten Hag makes three changes from that fiasco in Seville. Luke Shaw replaces the suspended Harry Maguire, Marcus Rashford is in for the disappointing Jadon Sancho and Bruno Fernandes replaces Marcel Sabitzer. I thought Fred might play alongside Casemiro to disrupt Brighton’s passing carousel.

Brighton (4-2-1-3) Sanchez; Gross. Webster, Dunk, Estupinan; Caicedo, Mac Allister; Enciso; March, Welbeck, Mitoma.
Substitutes: Steele, Colwill, Undav, Ayari, Gilmour, Van Hecke, Veltman, Buonanotte, Offiah.

Man Utd (possible 4-2-1-3) De Gea; Wan-Bissaka, Lindelof, Shaw, Dalot; Casemiro, Eriksen; Fernandes; Antony, Martial, Rashford.
Substitutes: Butland, Malacia, Williams, Fred, Pellistri, Sabitzer, Elanga, Sancho, Weghorst.

Preamble

Hello. It would be wrong to say that most FA Cup semi-finals are anti-climaxes, because that suggests an expectation of excitement in the first place. When a have meets a have-not at this stage of any competition, it generally goes only one way; the way it went at Wembley yesterday. The writer Dion Fanning puts it more succinctly: semi-finals are where fairytales go to die.

It gives me the greatest pleasure to tell you that today’s match between Brighton and Manchester United is different. It’s a have vs a have-not, yes, but many people – including the bookmakers, and I have no idea when this last happened - have the have-not as favourite. Confused? Splendid. Now all I need are the three digits on the back of the card.

Brighton have been one of the teams of this or any other season, and nobody outside Crystal Palace has a bad word to say about them. Their style of football is unique – intrepid and progressive in more ways than one, with a group of players who cost pennies and will be sold for the earth. Kaoru Mitoma, Evan Ferguson, Alexis Mac Allister and Moises Caicedo and the rest put the ‘ballers’ in ‘Moneyballers’.

This would be a serious test for a full-strength Manchester United, never mind one that is missing three centre-halves and has just been embarrassed in Seville. They have bounced back well this season, following each of their last six defeats (mostly pastings) with victory in the next game. Erik ten Hag will be desperate for them to do so again, not least because it would give United a chance to stop Manchester City doing the Treble.

City hang over this game in a couple of ways. Four years ago, in a former life under Chris Hughton, Brighton reached the semi-finals and lost 1-0 to Pep Guardiola’s team. It was a dignified defeat, but also a meek one.

Whatever happens today, we can say one thing with utter certainty: this Brighton team won’t die wondering.

Kick off 4.30pm.