AFC Bournemouth v Manchester United - 2 Games To Go

billythekid

billythekid

UTC Legend
Last Home Game Of The Season

With the season drawing to a close and AFCB now mathematically safe after Everton’s defeat on Sunday, our club have two games left. The first and the Cherries last home game is on Saturday at Dean Court at 3 pm against Manchester United who are vying to finish in 3rd place which Newcastle United now occupy on GD.

The home fans will be hoping to see a fighting performance against United and not the disappointing performance witnessed by our away following at Selhurst Park. Both Manchester United and Newcastle United have three games left, it could be a tight finish for that third spot, with Liverpool making a late run as well having won their last seven games.

When AFCB visited Old Trafford on the 3rd January, United beat us 3-0 and the table at the time had Arsenal top, Manchester City 2nd and Newcastle United and Manchester United in the same spots they occupy today, with AFCB in 15th place, one place below where we are today. The Manchester United manager Eric ten Hag in his first season in charge will see his team finish higher than last season, when they were in sixth place with 58 points. But he won’t beat Ole Gunnar Solskjaer second place finish in 2020-21.

Since the game in January, away from home in the league, United have won two games, Leeds United 0-2 and the same score against Nottingham Forest. United have drawn two, both against London clubs, 1-1 against Crystal Palace and 2-2 against Spurs. They lost against Arsenal 3-2, Liverpool 7-0, Newcastle United 2-0 and their last two away games both finished 1-0 against Brighton and West Ham. At home they have W 7, D 2, L 0.

We last met at Dean Court in the 2019-20 season, Josh King scored the only goal of the game against the club where he started as a trainee. It was the Cherries second win in the league against Manchester United.

In all our home league games against United, AFCB have W 2, D 0, L 3.
All fixtures, AFCB have W 3, D 3, L 13.

AFCB Team News
Antoine Semenyo has been ruled out for the rest of the season with an injury. He joins Marcus Tavernier and Ryan Fredericks. Two players Gary O’Neil hopes to see back before the end of the season are Hamed Traore and Junior Stanislas.

AFCB Player To Watch
Dominic Solanke in his last six games has scored two goals and had three assists, our best in those six games. He is our second leading scorer with six goals and leads with seven assists.

Manchester United Team News
There is a doubt over leading scorer Marcus Rashford, though he has returned to training (Wednesday). Other players likely to miss the game are Lisandro Martinez, Marcel Sabitzer, Donny van de Beek, Thomas Heaton and Phil Jones. Scott McTominay might be available after injury.

Manchester United Player To Watch
With a doubt over Marcus Rashford who is leading scorer with 16 goals, second leading scorer Bruno Fernandes with 6 goals and leads with 8 assists. Another strong all round player to watch is the Brazilian Casemiro.

The Referee
Chris Kavanagh is the man in the middle for this game. He has taken two of our games this season, away at Arsenal and at home against Leeds United.
 
I’ve looked at the last 4 league games for Man U. They were home to A Villa and Wolves and away to Brighton and W Ham. They picked up 6 points from these games, which seems a fair reward All games have been relatively close with three decided by the only goal of the game. Man U have scored 3 goals and conceded 2, whereas xG predicted 7.05 and 4.48. Let’s hope Man Utd's misfiring attack continues into the weekend.

GoalsxG.JPG

The average positions of the starting line-ups are below. Nothing overly stands out. Away at W Ham is the most similar game to us, where there was a slight overload on the right-hand side of midfield (although one of these players was Weghorst).

Av Positions.JPG

Man U have had 3 scorers (Fernandes, Martial, and Garnacho) with assists coming from Rashford, Antony and Fernandes.

The following graph compares summary stats of Man U and AFCB over the last 4 games. Man U have created more chances, more big chances, but have scored fewer goals per game than AFCB. Man U have conceded more chances, more big chances but have let in fewer goals per game than AFCB. On xG, Man U are ahead both in terms of goals for and goals against.

Comparison.JPG

Man U have had more possession over the last four games. AFCB have create a higher proportion of chances from open play rather than set pieces (although it is close), and have a similar proportion of chances conceded from open play as Man U.

Percentages.JPG
 
daveyboy19 said:
I hope we really turn up for this. I really don’t want them to get top 4.

I’m still bitter about them not offering refunds for the game called off for the ‘bomb’ years ago and a wasted trip to Manchester. Football fans hold grudges right?
Click to expand...
I don't want them to get top 4 either. But, I certainly don't want Victimpool to get that last Champions league spot.
 
Can we bring Stan on just to take corners like they do in American "football" ? Just the sight of him would reduce DdG to a jelly.
 
LewSwimmin said:
Can we bring Stan on just to take corners like they do in American "football" ? Just the sight of him would reduce DdG to a jelly.
Click to expand...

Yes, but didn't he go off injured (think v Cardiff after another long lay off...) after taking a corner or throw in?

Jogged off the pitch minutes after coming on :D
 
MB1980 said:
Yes, but didn't he go off injured (think v Cardiff after another long lay off...) after taking a corner or throw in?

Jogged off the pitch minutes after coming on :D
Click to expand...


I remember him going off injured after taking a free kick - against Burnley?

It is all very well saying put him on the bench - perhaps we should check there aren't splinters first :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

;