Bournemouth 1-0 Manchester United
When your team has failed to score a Premier League goal in October and has just won two of its last 11 home league matches, one of the last sides you would want arriving in town is Manchester United.
However, this is far from a vintage United, so the visit of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men to the south coast wouldn’t have created as much excitement as concern locally.
By the end, that feeling was justified as Bournemouth created one of the Premier League 2019 news stories of the season to move above their illustrious opponents in the table with a deserved victory.
And just like the last time they defeated United, the winning goal was scored by former United youth man Josh King as Bournemouth avoided going four Premier League matches without a goal for the first time.
Virtually a year to the day since the sides met on the south coast when United grabbed a last-gasp winner, the Vitality Stadium was well and truly bouncing.
First, they struck at the ideal time – on the stroke of half-time – and then they defended resolutely to claim a memorable win.
Highlights of the game
United gained a pre-match boost with the news their central defensive partners Victor Lindelof and Harry Maguire had both been passed fit, as did Marcus Rashford – all had picked up knocks in the midweek League Cup win at Chelsea.
One of the star men in that win, Dan James, was lively in the early exchanges here too. He went close to opening the scoring when an Andreas Pereira free-kick was cleared to the edge of the penalty area, and the young Welshman hit a thunderous effort which went narrowly wide of the post.
It was then Bournemouth’s turn to go close as Ryan Fraser had a clear sight of goal but fired straight at David de Gea.
A genuine lack of consistent attacking quality was not helped by conditions as strong wind and torrential rain swirled around the Vitality Stadium.
Yet the conditions didn’t stop Bournemouth from celebrating on the stroke of half-time.
Adam Smith dinked a cross into the area which former United youngster King controlled on his chest, shielded it from Aaron Wan-Bissaka and hooked the ball over his marker before volleying home.
It was impressive agility and a smart turn and finish from the Cherries striker. But it was also poor defending from the visitors.
Into the second half, the quality did not improve with chances few and far between. De Gea did well to block King as he stormed into the penalty area. He also kept out a Harry Wilson shot that looked destined for the bottom corner of the net.
United looked largely out of ideas and there were serious doubts whether they could really bite the Cherries a little over 60 hours after returning home from a midweek League Cup tie in West London.
In fairness, they were unfortunate when substitute Mason Greenwood was denied an equaliser when he struck the post with eight minutes remaining. Steve Cook then denied Rashford as the striker was about to pull the trigger.
However, no one could deny the home side deserved to win.
Some questions to ponder then: can Manchester United ever create danger from a corner (they dominated the corner count here but made no inroads).
Is Eddie Howe ready to be considered for a bigger job?
Is Solskjaer, taking charge of his 50th Premier League fixture (18 were with Cardiff City), really the man to turn United around?
Study the Premier League 2019 betting odds but take this SBOBET writer’s word for it: Bournemouth will not be fighting relegation this season and United will not finish in the top six.
Key statistics
United’s haul of 13 points from 11 Premier League games this season is their lowest at this stage of a top-flight campaign since 1986-87 (11).
United have failed to keep a clean sheet in any of their last 11 Premier League away games, their joint-longest run without one on the road in the competition (from August 2002 to January 2003).
King’s goal ended a run of 358 minutes, three games and 50 shots without a Premier League goal for Bournemouth.
Bournemouth won their first Premier League game against Manchester United in 2015, beating them 2-1, but had been without a win in the seven subsequent meetings until today.
This was the first time since a 2-0 FA Cup third-round defeat in 1984 that United had failed to score in 17 competitive fixtures between the sides.
Bournemouth have lost 24 of their last 29 league games versus sides from the established top six, winning the other five.
What’s next?
Bournemouth travel to Tyneside next weekend (November 9) before the final international break of the year.
United are in European action in the Europa League at home to Partizan Belgrade on Thursday (November 7). They then host Brighton in the Premier League three days later (November 10).
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