Written by billythekid

AFCB made it four games unbeaten after our draw against West Ham. After a lively last few minutes which saw the Cherries equalise an earlier controversial penalty given to West Ham, the point took AFCB up into sixth spot. Our next game is away up in the North at Old Trafford the home of Manchester United. The game is on Sunday at 2 pm. The Cherries looking to make it five games unbeaten.

Manchester United v AFC Bournemouth

Man Utd Win

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Draw

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AFCB Win

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Manchester United have yet again a new manager, he is the seventh manager on a permanent basis since Alex Ferguson. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was manager from December 2018 to November 2021 and had the longest stint at Old Trafford since Ferguson left in May 2013.

Portuguese Ruben Amorim is the new man in the hot seat at Old Trafford. He replaces Dutchman Erik ten Hag after he took the job in July 2022 up until near the end of October this year. Erik ten Hag left with United in 14th position after nine games with 11 points. Amorim was previously at Sporting Lisbon where he had a successful spell over his four-years there.

Amorim in his seven games in charge, at home his team have beaten Leicester City 3-0 and Everton 4-0. They drew 1-1 with Chelsea and have lost against Nottingham Forest 2-3. Away from Old Trafford, they have drawn 1-1 with Ipswich Town and lost 0-2 against Arsenal. Their most recent away game was the Manchester derby with City which they won 1-2.

Our last visit to Old Trafford will be in the memory of our fans who were there that day and also by the the majority who weren’t. It was our first ever win at their ground, beating them 0-3. Our goals came from Dominic Solanke in the first half and in a five minute spell in the second half, goals from Philip Billing and Marcos Senesi put the game to bed.

In all our away league games against Manchester United, AFCB have W 1, D 1, L 5.
In all competitions, AFCB have W 4, D 4, L 14.

Manchester United Team News
Mason Mount, Luke Shaw and Noussair Mazraoui are on the injury list.

Manchester United Player To Watch
Young 22-year-old Amad Diallo, had a very good game against Manchester City, gained a penalty and scored the winning goal. He has started 9 games and been sub 5 times, in his last four games he has scored 1 goal and had 3 assists. Leading United player with 6 assists and has also scored 2 goals. Bruno Fernandes is another to watch.

AFCB Team News
No new team injuries have been announced after Monday night’s game.

AFCB Player To Watch
What has contributed towards our recent run of results is down to playing as a team rather than relying on individuals. But the other night against West Ham Ryan Christie stood out as he ‘ignited’ our teams second half performance with his non stop running in midfield and unlucky not to be on the scoresheet.

The Referee
Craig Pawson is in charge of this game, he took two of our away games last season against Manchester City and Crystal Palace.

Matt Stevenson

I’ve looked at the last 4 league games for Man Utd. These were two home games (Everton and N Forest) and two away games (Arsenal and Man City). Man Utd have gained 6 points, which xG suggest is fewer than expected as they had the greatest xG in all games bar Arsenal. Man Utd have scored 8 goals and conceded 6 with xG estimating 4.97 goals with 4.52 conceded. Both expected values are lower due to oddities as Man Utd scored 4 from an xG of 1,07 vs Everton and conceded 3 against Nottm Forest from an xGc of 0.83.

Man Utd have had 5 different goal scorers with 2 each for Rashford, Zirkzee and Fernandes. Amad has 4 assists and Fernandes 2.

The average positions of the starting line-ups are below. Typically, the average positions are quite deep (with 6 or more men in Man Utd’s half) which isn’t surprising away against Arsenal and Man C, but was also the same in the comfortable victory against Everton.

The following plot compares summary stats of Man Utd and AFCB over the last 4 games.

AFCB have many more goal attempts per game and many more big chances, although goals scored are the same as we have not been clinical. Man Utd have conceded less chances, nut more big chances, and have conceded one more goal. xG is strongly in Bournemouth’s favour but xGc is very similar. Man Utd have had three errors leading to chances and AFCB four.

Man Utd have a higher possession percentage than AFCB and better pass completion. Chances from open play are similar. Man Utd have a very low percentage of chances conceded from open play (AFCB’s value is normally below the opposition) suggesting that set pieces are a weakness for Man Utd.

Your say…

Garbo wrote…

…tough one but having exorcised the ghost of Old Trafford aura last season…hope that we can turn it on ooop norf! – To join the conversation, click here.