Bournemouth’s final game until April 11 sees them take on another form side in United, as Andoni Iraola’s side look to equal their record unbeaten run in the Premier League.
If the last meeting was anything to go by, there will be drama and goals - the Daily Echo previews Friday’s game.
Team news
Iraola looks set to be without Tyler Adams once again after he missed the trip to Burnley last weekend as he was left out of the USA squad for the upcoming internationals.
(Image: Martin Rickett/PA Wire)
He joins Lewis Cook, Justin Kluivert and Julio Soler as players who will miss out this week, but the boss will be hopeful that both Cook and Adams can return after the interval.
Michael Carrick’s United won’t feature Matthijs de Ligt, Lisandro Martinez or Patrick Dorgu, all of whom are ruled out through injury.
Head-to-head
Iraola is unbeaten against United across five games as Cherries boss, winning two of those and drawing three.
The two victories have both come at Old Trafford, along with one of the draws, while both meetings at Dean Court have resulted in stalemates.
(Image: Martin Rickett/PA Wire)
Last time the two sides met, there was plenty of drama in Manchester.
United led 2-1 at half time, but Bournemouth turned the game around to lead 3-2 after seven minutes of the second half.
The hosts then scored twice in quick succession to make it 4-3 with 11 minutes to play, before Junior Kroupi netted an equaliser with six minutes left to cap off a hugely entertaining game at the Theatre of Dreams.
Form
The Cherries are ten games unbeaten in the Premier League, but they have hit a bit of a dip in form in recent weeks, drawing five of their past six, including the past four games.
In those four, they have only scored and conceded once, showing a solid defence, but without being able to find the back of the net.
(Image: Martin Rickett/PA Wire)
That leaves them tenth in the table with eight games to go, four points off Brentford in seventh, and they’ll be hoping to return to winning ways to head into the break on a high.
United, meanwhile, are third in the league having gone on an 11-game unbeaten run that was ended by Newcastle at the start of this month.
But they responded well to that defeat with a 3-1 win over Aston Villa and they’ll be hoping to further cement their spot in the top four.
AFC Bournemouth host Manchester United on Friday, March 20, kick off at 8pm.