Axel Tuanzebe has made his first start in more than 13 months

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Manchester United loanee Axel Tuanzebe made his first start in more than 13 months as Stoke lost to Brighton last night.

The Potters hosted the Seagulls in the FA Cup fifth round and Tuanzebe was named in the starting XI for the first time by manager Alex Neil.

Tuanzebe’s most recent start before that came for Napoli in January 2022, as per Transfermarkt, in the Coppa Italia against Fiorentina.

Stoke lost 1-0 and after the game, Tuanzebe spoke to Stoke club media about his first start in such a long time as well as coming close to a second half equaliser.

• READ: Five things we learned as Manchester United win the Carabao Cup

Axel Tuanzebe makes first start in more than a year in Stoke 0-1 Brighton

He said: “We knew we had to grind it out and it’s a shame we didn’t get a bit of luck today, but we were happy with the performance.”

When asked if he thought his header on 65 minutes was in, he said: “Definitely! I was watching and watching and it just went the other side of the post, which was unfortunate.

“I was just happy to be back and dusting off the rough edges and building from this now, and go forward.

“No matter what kind of condition you’re in, you have to expose yourself to as many games as possible to get back to top condition. Definitely (ready to play again on Saturday).”

Stoke went down 1-0 to an Evan Ferguson goal on the half hour mark, and we recently wrote that United should consider the Brighton striker this summer.

Brighton’s progression to the quarter-finals means that our meeting with them at the Amex Stadium later this month is going to be moved.

That game was due to take place on Sunday 19 March, but that weekend has been earmarked for the last eight of the FA Cup.

United will be looking to get into the hat themselves alongside Brighton, Manchester City, Fulham and Blackburn when we host West Ham at Old Trafford tonight.