Manchester United vs Bournemouth preview: Fifth place in sight for Red Devils against out-of-sorts Cherries | OneFootball

For the third gameweek running, Manchester United draw the curtain on proceedings on Monday as Bournemouth come visiting Old Trafford.

Having watched six of the seven teams currently above them emerge victorious in the latest round of matches, the hosts will be keen to continue their quest for Champions League football with maximum points here.

Knowing anything less than a win would be deemed catastrophic, United headed to the Molineux Stadium for the challenge of Wolverhampton Wanderers, the division’s bottom club.

However, things were far from straightforward for Ruben Amorim’s men, who went into the interval on level terms before Bruno Fernandes’ second-half masterclass inspired a 4-1 triumph.

Now up to 25 points from 15 matches, the Red Devils are eighth in the standings but will move level on points with fourth-place Chelsea should they come out on top in their upcoming assignment.

With no wins from any of their last four league meetings against Bournemouth, United have not fared well in this fixture, although they did run out 4-1 winners in July’s pre-season matchup.

Having kept just one clean sheet all season long, Monday’s hosts will hope to finally record a shutout against opponents who have failed to score in consecutive matches ahead of the trip to Old Trafford.

After such a bright start to the campaign that saw them go unbeaten in eight of their opening nine matches, Bournemouth have been on a rough patch of late, with no wins in six matches since the start of November.

Four of the aforementioned six games have ended in defeat, leaving Andoni Iraola’s men with just two points during that span, the third-fewest of any Premier League side.

Nonetheless, Bournemouth gave a good account of themselves in their 0-0 stalemate against Chelsea last time out, limiting the Blues to no clear-cut chances.

While they were earlier touted as one of the contenders for continental football, the Cherries currently find themselves 15th.

Monday’s journey to Manchester kicks off a busy festive period for the Cherries, who have four games over a 15-day window to close out the year.