Preview: Manchester United aiming to make it four wins on the road by beating Bournemouth; Solskjaer’s side gaining confidence again

Bournemouth -v- Manchester United

Premier League

Vitality Stadium, Bournemouth

Saturday 2 November 2019, KO 12:30 GMT

Referee: Chris Kavanagh Assistants: Sian Massey-Ellis; Constantine Hatzidakis Fourth Official: David Webb

VAR: Mike Dean Assistant VAR: Stephen Child

Manchester United are on the road again this weekend and will face Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium in the Premier League. It will be the first fixture to be played this weekend, kicking off at 12:30 on Saturday, live on BT Sport 1 HD in the United Kingdom. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s United will be seeking to continue their unbeaten streak.

It has been the longest unbeaten streak of this season, in fact, if you look back to last season, up until United beat Paris Saint-Germain in the UEFA Champions League, that was their last biggest unbeaten run, which lasted for five matches, coming after a 2-0 defeat to PSG. It was an eleven match unbeaten run before that, something Solskjaer would like to see again.

Form: United have the better form winning the last three matches with Bournemouth winning once in their last six matches in all competitions.

Manchester United: WWWDLD

Chelsea 2-1 W, Norwich City 3-1 W, Partizan Belgrade 1-0 W, Liverpool 1-1 D, Newcastle United 1-0 L, AZ Alkmaar 0-0 D

Bournemouth: DDLDLW

Watford 0-0 D, Norwich City 0-0 D, Arsenal 1-0 L, West Ham United 2-2 D, Burton Albion 2-0 L, Southampton 3-1 W

Top Scorers: 18 goals scored for United this season, just 13 for Bournemouth. United have the upper hand having scored six goals in the last three matches, conceding twice.

Manchester United: After a period of poor form, United are starting to rise through the ranks again after scoring six goals in their last three matches. Bournemouth mat need to brace themselves.

Goals: 7 – Marcus Rashford, 4 – Anthony Martial, 3 – Daniel James, 2 – Mason Greenwood, Scott McTominay

United’s season started well but soon took a decline. However, recently with injured players returning, things have started to improve. The last three matches, all on the road, have been victories for United with a 1-1 draw against Liverpool just before them. Things are starting to look up for United, who have risen to seventh in the Premier League.

Bournemouth: Unable to score in their last three matches, winless in the last five, Bournemouth may need to do the impossible to stop this United side whose confidence is growing.

Goals: 5 – Callum Wilson, 3 – Harry Wilson, 2 – Joshua King, 1 – Nathan Aké, Ryan Fraser, Chris Mepham

Bournemouth need to find a way forward to get out of the rut they are in. They have failed to score a single goal in their last three matches, drawing twice and losing once. They are, however, ninth in the Premier League table, having the same number of points as United, although their goal difference the three fewer than United.

Team News: Solskjaer rules Shaw, Tuanzebe and Matic out of Bournemouth match, Pogba already out and Rashford, Maguire and Lindelof face a battle to be ready; Brooks and Stanislas out for Bournemouth, Gosling likely to return.

Solskjaer has confirmed that Axel Tuanzebe, Luke Shaw and Nemanja Matic have all been ruled out of the visit to Bournemouth on Saturday through injury and fitness issues. Harry Maguire, Victor Lindelof, and Marcus Rashford all picked up knocks against Chelsea on Wednesday evening with the trio needing treatment and light training, however, the manager is hopeful they will be fit to face Bournemouth.

Paul Pogba is likely to be out of action for at least another month, which is causing a lot of speculation leading up to the January transfer window and the fact that Pogba was adamant that he wanted a new challenge in the summer. Eric Bailly and Tim Fosu-Mensah will remain out of action for the foreseeable future with a New Year return likely for both players.

Eddie Howe could see Dan Gosling back for Bournemouth but both Junior Stanislas and David Brooks will remain unavailable for the visit of United on Saturday. It will be a big match for the South Coast side who have won just two of their last 11 Premier League home matches, drawing five times and losing four times. Bournemouth has also failed to score in their last three matches, something they will need to end to change their form.

Predicted Starting XI: Solskjaer has players missing but the usual suspects will drive United forward and aim to get another victory on the road, extending their seven match unbeaten record against Bournemouth.

Solskjaer has at least six players missing from this match so the squad will be similar to the one that faced Chelsea during the week, with some youth players bulking up the squad, giving the manager options. I think that Rashford, Maguire and Lindelof will all start in this match with Anthony Martial leading the line once again.

Match Prediction: United has a great record against Bournemouth, especially in the last seven matches in which United have won six times, drawing once.

United and Bournemouth have played 16 times in the history of both clubs. United has won 11 times, drawn 3 times and lost two times. United are undefeated in the last seven matches, winning six times and drawing once. The last defeat to Bournemouth came on the 12 December 2015 at the Vitality Stadium, a 2-1 defeat.

Marouane Fellaini equalise after Junior Stanislas’ opening goal only for former United academy graduate Josh King to score the winning goal in the match. Prior to that match, United and Bournemouth had not met since 1989 with the last defeat going back five years earlier, a 2-0 defeat in the FA Cup in 1984.

Bournemouth 0-3 Manchester United

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I support Manchester United, the greatest English football team to have ever existed. Bruno Fernandes is the latest in a long line of players with great ability to play for the club. I idolised Bryan Robson, David Beckham, Paul Scholes, and Eric Cantona growing up.