Manchester United will head to the south coast to take on Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium in the Premier League encounter on Sunday afternoon. The Reds could be forgiven for having matters focused elsewhere with the Europa League semi-finals coming up. Meanwhile, the opposition will be looking to become the sixth side this season to do the double over United and keep their hopes of European football alive for next season.
After the high of the dramatic victory over Lyon in the Europa League, it was back to reality when we suffered another home defeat in the Premier League to Wolves last weekend. With our attack lacking the cutting edge to score, the opposition’s Pablo Sarabia struck a brilliant free kick past Andre Onana to take all three points from Old Trafford. It saw United lose their second Premier League game in a row and it is our fourth consecutive game without a win in this competition.
With yesterday’s results, Manchester United cannot be mathematically relegated but still remain in the lower part of the table, already suffering 15 defeats across the season. It is not since the 1989/90 campaign we have been beaten more.
The remaining Premier League games for United are largely taking a backseat as Ruben Amorim’s side pursue glory in the Europa League. We head to Athletic Bilbao for the first leg on Thursday, before the return leg a week later at Old Trafford. However, before all that, United will want to avoid another unwanted record not since 2019, going five league games without a win.
Manchester United Team News
For United, they face a fresh injury to contend with as Ruben Amorim revealed in the pre-match press conference on Friday that Diogo Dalot has a calf injury, which could see the end of his season. He joins Joshua Zirkzee (thigh), Lisandro Martinez (ACL), Toby Collyer (leg), Matthijs de Ligt (ankle), Ayden Heaven (ankle) and Amad Diallo (ankle) in the treatment room. Reports coming out suggest that the latter could return to training next week.
With Dalot now on the sidelines, it will give another opportunity to Harry Amass, who made a good impression alongside Tyler Fredricson in last weekend’s defeat at home to Wolves. Amorim may decide to switch back to Leny Yoro and the hero in the win over Lyon of Harry Maguire.
Manchester United Predicted Lineup
Onana;
Mazraoui, Maguire, Yoro;
Dorgu, Ugarte, Fernandes, Amass;
Mount, Garnacho;
Hojlund.
Opposition Preview
Just like United, Bournemouth were unable to find the back of the net in their 0-0 draw away at Crystal Palace despite the opposition being down to 10 men through Chris Richards’ red card. Having played most of the second half with a man advantage, the Cherries saw their chances of finishing inside the top seven of the table suffer a setback as they are eight points below Aston Villa, who have played one less game.
If Bournemouth do secure the eighth-placed finish in the league, there is still a chance of competing in the Europa Conference League next season, depending on who wins the FA Cup. The form of the Cherries has not been great recently, with only one win in their last seven across all competitions.
The draw last weekend at Palace saw Bournemouth accumulate a club record of 49 points in a Premier League season. They could record three consecutive clean sheets for the first time since November 2019.
Bournemouth Team News
The opposition is without long-term absentees Enes Unal (knee) and Ryan Christie (groin), who continue their recoveries. Andoni Iraola has confirmed that Luis Sinisterra’s hamstring injury will see the attacking midfielder miss the game on Sunday afternoon.
A late fitness check will be conducted on Lewis Cook, who came off the bench last weekend in the draw against Crystal Palace has been nursing an ankle problem for a number of weeks. With reported interest in Antoine Semenyo by United, he comes into this game having hit an incredible 116 shots in the 2024/25 Premier League season, only second to Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah.
Form Guide
Manchester United Premier League form: WLDLL
Manchester United form (all competitions): DDLWL
Bournemouth Premier League form: LLDWD
Bournemouth form (all competitions): LLDWD
Prediction
United have to use Bournemouth’s not-so-good recent form to their advantage and also take some confidence with them going into the first leg of the Europa League semi finals coming up on Thursday. With captain Bruno Fernandes set to return, this should hopefully aid some of the creativity we lacked last week in our defeat at home to Wolves.
Bournemouth 1-2 Manchester United