Lewis Dunk, the only Brighton player still at the club who played in their FA Cup semi-final defeat in 2019, says they are a totally different prospect to what they were back then.
Brighton lost that Wembley showdown 1-0 to Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City.
After Sunday’s draw paired them with Erik ten Hag’s Manchester United in next month’s semi-finals, Dunk says they are on the verge of bigger and better things under Roberto De Zerbi.
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‘We’re in a different place as a club and a group and we go there confident in our ability to get into a final,’ Dunk said after Sunday’s 5-0 win over League Two Grimsby in the quarter-finals.
‘It has been a big change and you can see that by the way we are performing and where we are in the table. We go into every game and we know exactly what we’re doing, what we’re about, and we know we can beat anyone on our day.’
Lewis Dunk believes Brighton have what it takes to defeat Man United in the FA Cup semi-final
Dunk is the only member of the Brighton side who lost the 2019 semi-final still at the club
Brighton lost 1-0 to Manchester City in 2019, but Dunk is ‘confident’ they can do it this time
On De Zerbi, who is winning praise for how he is managing Brighton, Dunk continued: ‘He just gives us confidence and puts pure belief in our ability during the training week. We go out there confident as anything.’
After beating Grimsby, De Zerbi said he does not want to choose between winning the FA Cup and qualifying for the Champions League via the Premier League’s top four.
He wants both, and Dunk echoed that ambition as he smiled: ‘Both. That would be nice, wouldn’t it?’