Manchester United eye-up three points against misfiring Cherries.
Bournemouth v Man Utd
Has Ole Gunnar Solskjaer pulled Manchester United out of their rut? The Red Devils have won their last three matches in all competitions (against Partizan Belgrade, Norwich City and Chelsea), leading many to start believing it’s a new, brave renaissance for the once great club.
It’s tough to know what to make of United’s run; the victory in Belgrade was courtesy of a penalty, Norwich City are a side United should be looking to beat as a bare minimum, while the Chelsea win was in the Carabao Cup via a brilliant free-kick and, yes…another penalty. They are awarded a lot of spot-kicks.
United do have a good record against Bournemouth: they’ve won six of their last seven matches against the Cherries, as well as on their last three trips to The Vitality. In my eyes, this is still one of the weakest United sides since Sir Alex hung up his hairdryer, so I take these numbers with a small pinch of salt.
However, the value is still very much with the visitors, and that’s as much down to Bournemouth’s form as United’s. Eddie Howe’s men are winless in five – failing to score in four of these fixtures; that’s despite facing Burton in the Carabao Cup, West Ham, Arsenal, Norwich and Watford. Hardly a stellar line-up.
For a side who pride themselves on scoring goals, this is slightly worrying, but Bournemouth are no strangers to lengthy runs of either brilliant or dreadful results, so I’m not worried for them in the long run.
23/20 seems a bit chunky for an away win—especially due to how many penalties United win—so I’m happy throwing my weight behind it.
Despite being a bizarre figure of ridicule amongst fans, Marcus Rashford is quietly having an impressive season.
After netting a penalty and that unbelievable free-kick against Chelsea on Wednesday, Rashford’s goal tally this season is up to 10 in all competitions – in just 18 appearances.
Backing him to score first, against an out-of-form Bournemouth side, considering he has five goals in his last five games for club and country, looks tempting.
Plus, it’s been boosted to 5/1. Nice!
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