Bournemouth vs Man Utd prediction, expected line-ups, how to watch and stats
Bournemouth welcome Man Utd for a Premier League clash on Super Sunday, with the Cherries still chasing European football.
Andoni Iraola’s side may be seven points behind seventh-place Chelsea, but that doesn’t mean their dream of playing European football in front of 500 people is dead.
With the top five teams in the league guaranteed Champions League football, Bournemouth just need the winners of the FA Cup and Carabao Cup, who are awarded spots in Europe, to finish in the European places.
That looks like happening given Newcastle have already lifted one trophy, while Aston Villa, Man City or Nottingham Forest could win the other.
While everything is looking rosy on the south coast, Utd will be hoping to avoid another embarrassing league double going against them.
That’s not a slight on Bournemouth, who arguably have a better manager, players, recruitment strategy, structure, well… you know, everything.
But losing 3-0 to the care home capital of England at Old Trafford is just one of a growing collection of fever dreams the Stretford End have experienced in recent years.
With Ruben Amorim keeping one eye on next Thursday’s Europa League semi-final, the nightmare will continue at the Vitality Stadium.
Bournemouth vs Man Utd prediction
Bournemouth haven’t put together a very good run of results on home soil recently, but you can be certain they’ll be bang up for this fixture.
We’re pretty confident they’ll turn out of a typically energetic, all-action, Iraola performance and find a way to put two or three goals past Utd on Sunday.
There’s definitely been some improvements at Old Trafford but their league form is going to keep suffering as they focus on the Europa League.
The Cherries have won back-to-back meetings 3-0 at Old Trafford, though they failed to see the Red Devils off when drawing 2-2 here last season.
Whatever the outcome, this fixture has been wide open and full of goals in recent seasons, which is a trend we expect to continue this weekend.
Both teams scoring is fairly standard in a Bournemouth fixture, but it’s less common when Utd take to the field. There’s risk in backing them to do anything until we see the line-up, so we’ll look to exploit the likelihood of the hosts winning.
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Bournemouth team news
Ryan Christie and Enes Unal are ruled out due to injury, while Luis Sinisterra is a doubt.
Iraola is expected to call upon his preferred back four, comprising Adam Smith, Illia Zabarnyi, Dean Huijsen and Milos Kerkez.
Alex Scott was withdrawn at half time of Bournemouth’s 0-0 draw with Crystal Palace as he walked a disciplinary tight rope.
Lewis Cook could return to partner Tyler Adams in midfield.
The fit again Justin Kluivert will be flanked by Antoine Semenyo and Dango Outtara as they support Evanilson in the attack.
Bournemouth expected line-up
Kepa – Smith, Zabarnyi, Huijsen, Kerkez – Cook, Adams – Semenyo, Kluivert, Outtara – Evanilson
Man Utd team news
Lisandro Martinez and Joshua Zirkzee have both suffered a season-ending injury.
Altay Bayindir, Amad Diallo, Ayden Heaven, Matthijs de Ligt and Toby Collyer were also absent from Wednesday morning’s training session.
Amorim opted to rest several key players on the back of beating Lyon 5-4 in extra time before the Wolves game and could take a similar approach to Sunday’s match.
That could mean starts for Victor Lindelof, Christian Eriksen, Harry Amass and even Tyler Fredricson, who performed well against Wolves.
On the other hand, with five days until they meet with Athletic Bilbao and the option to rest players next weekend, Utd may go full strength and start withdrawing starters around the 60-minute mark.
Man Utd expected line-up
Onana – Mazraoui, Maguire, Yoro – Dalot, Ugarte, Eriksen, Dorgu – Fernandes, Garnacho – Hojlund
Bournemouth vs Man Utd: How to watch and listen
Bournemouth vs Man Utd will be shown live on Sky Sports HDR, Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Premier League at 14:00 on Sunday, April 27. There will be full match commentary on BBC Radio 5 Live Sport.
Bournemouth vs Man Utd stats
– Bournemouth have scored eight goals vs Utd en route to two wins and a draw in three previous meetings.
– Both teams have scored in 60% of the Cherries’ fixtures across all competitions, while both teams have scored in just 48% of Utd’s 39 domestic fixtures.
– Bournemouth are aiming to become the sixth side to complete a league double over Man Utd this season.
– Bournemouth have won just one of their previous seven home matches across all competitions.
– Man Utd haven’t won any of their previous six matches. They’ve also failed to win 12 of their 16 Premier League away matches.