Andy Ritchie has been waiting for this match for a long time.

The former Albion and Manchester United striker, who now works at Old Trafford, is thrilled to see his two old clubs go head to head in the Premier League.

And he suspects the Seagulls might just offer tougher opposition than the last promoted team to visit Jose Mourinho’s men.

Ritchie scored 23 top-flight goals for Albion and 13 for his local club United.

He was the Seagulls’ record signing when they took him from Old Trafford for £500,000 in October, 1980.

Ritchie scored in three games against United that season – home and away in the league and at Old Trafford in the FA Cup.

With 13 goals, he was leading scorer the following season as Albion secured their highest ever finishing position of 13th.

His winner at Southampton in December took them as high as sixth.

And he finished his Albion career at Old Trafford, playing in a 1-1 draw in March, 1983, before boss Jimmy Melia sent him to Leeds in exchange for Terry Connor.

Now, after a good few years in management, he works for United’s in-house television channel MUTV and hosts in one of the lounges on matchdays.

So he is ideally placed to outline the test facing Albion – with a bit of empathy for the opposition.

United extended their unbeaten home run to 38 games when they came from behind to beat Newcastle 4-1 last Saturday.

Ritchie said: “For the first 20 minutes, I thought United looked sluggish, a bit sloppy.

“It was the first game back after the internationals.

“I thought they let Newcastle have too much of the ball.

“There was a slip by Lindelof for the goal although I’m not sure he would have got there anyway.

“But the Newcastle goal sparked United into action.

“They were in complete control from then.

“Newcastle had a couple of chances but I thought United looked very good against them.

“Brighton will be a different kettle of fish because I think they are probably a bit stronger than Newcastle defensively. The stats show that.

“If you look to attack all the time you will leave yourself too open.

“Jose (Mourinho) will have his strongest XI out. Paul Pogba definitely plays. Mourinho has already said they are a far better team with him than without him.

“He was man-of-the-match against Newcastle and he is pivotal to what they do.

“He gives everybody more licence to get forward and he goes forward himself as well.

“He will play unless there is any injury issue after the Basel game.”

Ritchie picks out Ashley Young as a player who has impressed him along with Chris Smalling, whose use of the ball was called into question after his recent omission from the England squad.

He said: “Chris is a solid defender. He is quick, dominant in the air.

“I think he is a player who wins that vital tackle, then gives the ball to players who can create.

“Chris knows what his job is in the team and he has been superb since coming back into the side.

“But there are so many you could name.

“Getting Marcos Rojo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic back is a plus.

“They had such bad injuries and they will be massive boosts to the squad.

“This is a fixture I’ve wanted to see for a long time.

“It’s great Brighton have got back up.

“There’s a big mate of mine coming to the game who is a Brighton fan so I’m sure there will be some banter.”

What turned into Ritchie’s Albion farewell should have been crowned by a goal in front of the Stretford End.

He netted in the first minute back in 1983 but was pulled up for handball.

“It was never handball,” he says now, recalling the moment clearly.

“The ball hit my chest, nowhere near my shoulder.

“I scored in other games at Old Trafford and there was none of this not celebrating like you see today.

“I was running around like a mad man because I wanted to show them – well (United manager) Dave Sexton, really - that he was wrong to get rid of me.

“I cherish my time at Brighton. They were three great years.

“I thought I had played really well in that last game and I would be in the team for the next match at home to Liverpool.

“We trained on the Monday at Peacehaven which was handy for me because I lived about five minutes away.

“After training Jimmy Melia said he wanted to see me and I said okay.

“But he said he wanted to see me back at the (Goldstone) ground so I said ‘Can’t we do it here?’. That got my back up for a start.

“I wasn’t happy anyway because I was in and out of the side.

“We went back to the ground, I walked into the manager’s office and he had Eddie Gray from Leeds on the phone. That was a real shock to the system.

“If he wanted me to talk to Leeds we could have had a chat first and then made the phone call.

“I knew then the writing was on the wall.

“I was getting to know I wasn’t in the team on Friday night when the Evening Argus rang me up to ask how I felt about being sub again.

“Things were going on I wasn’t happy about.

“So I went to speak to Leeds and I learnt it was a swap deal with Terry Connor.

“Me and Terry actually met in the airport lounge in Gatwick when I was flying up to Leeds-Bradford.

“He wasn’t really for moving. He was Leeds born and bred.

“I said, ‘Listen, we are only talking. If the deal isn’t right for either of us I’m not leaving’. But, as it turned out, we both thought the offers looked right for us.

Going north meant Ritchie would have no chance of playing in the forthcoming FA Cup semi-final and, potentially a final.

As it turned out, Albion and United went head-to-head at Wembley.

He said: “We had the semi-final coming up against Sheffield Wednesday but we weren’t particularly favourites to win it.

“The spirit of the FA Cup had brought us together.

“We used to go out for a curry together on a Thursday night.

“The cup final was being talked about by everybody in Brighton.

“But I was by no means certain I would play in the final even if we got there and I had to think about the rest of my career.”