- AFC Bournemouth striker Joshua King has been ruled out with an ankle injury. Eddie Howe says he is “quietly confident” Simon Francis will be passed fit after the defender suffered an injury in the EFL Cup tie against Norwich.
- Manchester United has Jesse Lingard and Alexis Sanchez (both groin) available again. Marouane Fellaini (groin), Diogo Dalot and Antonio Valencia (knee) remain sidelined.
- AFC Bournemouth, who has kept a clean sheet in its last three Premier League matches, can now make it four in a row in the top flight for the first time.
- Anthony Martial has scored in his last three PL matches, hitting four goals in total. He can now register in a fourth consecutive fixture in the competition for the first time.
Bournemouth looks to win its fourth game out of its last five Premier League matches as it hosts Jose Mourinho and Manchester United (Watch live at 8:30 a.m. ET on NBCSN and online via NBCSports.com).
Eddie Howe’s side has scored nine goals in its last three Premier League victories, including three goals from Callum Wilson and David Brooks each. However, Bournemouth will be without star forward Joshua King and Man United appear to be finding its feet in the Premier League. The club nearly left Stamford Bridge with a win against Chelsea and the Red Devils held on to a 2-1 win last weekend against Everton.
Paul Pogba seems to be back to his best (even with his loooooong penalty kick run-up), and Anthony Martial has scored in his last three games. Can he make it four in a row?
What they’re saying?
Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe on being underdogs against Man United: “Players need to know to get anything out of the game, they are going to have to excel, perhaps even above what we have done this season, to get a positive result. That’s my message to the players. Whenever you play the elite teams, the big guns, you have to outperform your levels. You have to hit your very top to get a result. We have found that before, you can’t play below your best and expect to win. The challenge is to win and go harder.”
Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho on keeping his team focused on themselves and not the rest of the table: “I think in this moment we have to focus on ourselves and do better, or get better results. I think it’s very difficult, for example, to go to Stamford Bridge and do better than what we did in terms of performance. We had three points in our pocket but we left with only one. In other matches, we could have had and we should have had better results than we did. So, until the end of December, we have to focus on ourselves and the potential we have and the problems we have and the qualities we have and try to go because at the moment we are outside the top four. We have to push hard and work hard to improve and try and get into the top four positions.“
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Prediction
We think this can be a pretty exciting match, though both teams will have to share the spoils. Paul Pogba actually scores a penalty kick on Saturday but Bournemouth’s Wilson scraps one home on a set piece. Bournemouth 1-1 Man United.