Bournemouth 0 Manchester United 1
Manchester United earned three Premier League points on the road with a comprehensive 1-0 victory over Bournemouth on Saturday afternoon.
Erik ten Hag's men were utterly dominant in the first 45 and opened the scoring with just nine minutes on the clock. Christian Eriksen lofted the ball into the area and, though it looked like it had been intercepted initially, it fell to Casemiro whose wonderfully acrobatic finish fired the Reds ahead.
United had a handful of chances in the second period to double our tally but were thwarted by the Cherries' resistance. Meanwhile, equally excellent defending from our own backline - including a one-on-one save by Golden Glove winner David de Gea late on - secured the victory.
Emerging into the blistering sunshine, sporting our bright green third kit, the Reds were subject to some early pressure from Bournemouth in front of their vocal home support.
United soon grew into the game, though, with Casemiro unleashing our first effort on goal which was blazed over by the Brazilian. A few moments later, Fernandes tried something similar, but his own shot from range was wide of the mark.
Ten Hag’s men grew into the game with a sense of real professionalism and in the ninth minute established a well-deserved lead. After some slick football on the edge of the area, Eriksen lifted a pass into the space Casemiro was running into, inside the box. Marcos Senesi looked to have intercepted the delivery initially but subsequently teed our no.18 up for a wonderfully acrobatic finish that saw him hook the ball over his head and thump it beyond Neto between the sticks.
We may have dominated the majority of the first 45, but the Cherries played themselves back into the game late in the half with David Brooks at the heart of the action. Their best chance would come from Dominic Solanke, whose fizzed effort was parried by De Gea at the away end.
At the other end of the pitch, Casemiro looked to double his tally, and our lead, with a low-driven shot from just outside the area, but Neto was down quickly to save his shot. United headed into the break a goal to the good after a free-flowing first-half performance.
Chasing the game, the Cherries came out for the second half and made a real statement of intent by surging forward and descending on United’s goal. Brooks drifted into the area and hit one toward De Gea, but the Spaniard tipped it over. The resulting corner was cleared by the Reds.
Minutes later, Bournemouth’s talisman Solanke drove towards the byline before drilling a teasing ball right across the face of goal. A touch would have surely turned it into the back of the net, but none of his team-mates followed it in to provide the finishing touch.
Ten Hag’s players were soon dominating the game again, with second-half substitute Wout Weghorst forcing a good save from Neto after his half-volley sailed through a sea of bodies. Ten minutes later, the Bournemouth shot-stopper was on his toes to deny Fernandes, whose sublime volley seemed destined to find the top corner.
The hosts pushed for the equaliser until the very end, with De Gea, already confirmed as the Golden Glove winner, stepping up to deny Kieffer Moore one-on-one. Senesi also went close to snatching a point from our grasp with almost the last kick of the game, but his volley landed on the roof of David’s net.
A huge three points, and a draw between Liverpool and Aston Villa at Anfield, means we now need only one point from our remaining two games to secure a top-four finish this season.
MATCH DETAILS
Bournemouth: Neto; Zabarnyi, Sensei, Kelly; Smith (Vina 65), Cook, Lerma, Anthony; Christie (Ouattara 65), Brooks (Moore 55); Solanke.
Substitutes not used: Travers, Stephens, Mepham, Stacey, Sadi, Adu-Adjei.
Bookings: Cook 70.
United: De Gea; Wan-Bissaka, Varane, Lindelof, Shaw; Casemiro, Eriksen (McTominay 86); Antony (Fred 86), Fernandes (c), Sancho (Garnacho 71); Martial (Weghorst 57).
Substitutes not used: Butland, Maguire, Malacia, Dalot, Pellistri.
Goals: Casemiro 9.