Preview: Manchester United vs Bournemouth - prediction, team news, lineups

For the second Monday running, Manchester United bring the curtain down on the latest Premier League gameweek, hosting Bournemouth at Old Trafford.

The Red Devils made incredibly light work of basement side Wolverhampton Wanderers last Monday, whereas the Cherries' plight continued in a goalless stalemate with Chelsea.

Match preview

When Jean-Ricner Bellegarde levelled for winless Wolves at Molineux last weekend, the visiting faithful may have feared the worst against a team on course to go down as the worst in Premier League history, but Bruno Fernandes and co had other ideas.

The prolific Portuguese inspired the Red Devils' to a 4-1 rout of Rob Edwards's men, finding the net twice himself and laying on an assist for Mason Mount, while Bryan Mbeumo also got in on the act on what may be his final club appearance of 2025.

Losing just one of their last nine matches and taking seven points from the last nine on offer, Man United's decision to stick by Ruben Amorim is currently being vindicated, as the ex-Sporting Lisbon boss led his team into the top six of the Premier League rankings last weekend.

Over the hosts' last nine games, 18 points won represents more than they had accrued in their previous 17 matches beforehand, although the Red Devils are still striving - and failing - to obtain consistency at the Theatre of Dreams.

After winning four on the spin from August 30 to October 25, Man Utd have now gone two home games without victory, and the home side have also let in at least one goal in 14 of their 15 Premier League matches in 2025-26 so far.

Bournemouth matched Man Utd's clean sheet total for the season in just one match in gameweek 15, where a point against Club World Cup winners Chelsea was hardly disastrous, but it was a point that prolonged their painful winless run.

Since taking down Nottingham Forest 2-0 at the end of October, none of the Cherries' last six top-flight matches have ended in victory, and Andoni Iraola's men have collected a pitiful two points from just 18 on offer during that sorry sequence.

The former top-four contenders have slid into the bottom half of the rankings as a result of their drop-off, which has its roots in a declining attacking output - the visitors may fail to score in three straight Premier League games for the first time since the 2022-23 season on Monday.

Formerly impossible for Premier League defences to live with, the much-coveted Antoine Semenyo has now failed to register a goal or assist in seven straight top-flight games - perhaps a consequence of the incessant transfer speculation swirling around.

Semenyo's struggles have coincided with Bournemouth's plummet down the standings, although the Cherries have incredibly beaten Man Utd 3-0 at Old Trafford in each of the last two Premier League seasons, contributing to a four-match unbeaten run vs. the Red Devils in the competition.

Manchester United Premier League form:

Bournemouth Premier League form:

Team News

December 15 is the mandatory release date for clubs to send Africa Cup of Nations-competing players to their countries, but the trio of Amad Diallo (Ivory Coast), Bryan Mbeumo (Cameroon) and Noussair Mazraoui (Morocco) have not been ruled out of Monday's match just yet.

The same goes for Benjamin Sesko - in spite of his recent bout of food poisoning following a knee injury - but Matthijs de Ligt (back) and Harry Maguire (hamstring) remain on the sidelines for the Red Devils.

Nineteen-year-old Ayden Heaven made his second successive Premier League start in De Ligt's absence against Wolves, and the former Arsenal product has likely done enough to reprise his role on Monday, if Lisandro Martinez is still not deemed ready for a starting role.

Sticking with the defensive theme, Bournemouth boss Iraola was forced to bring Marcos Senesi off in the 62nd minute of last weekend's draw with Chelsea, but the visiting coach is hopeful that the Argentine was just cramping up and will be fine for Monday.

Senesi's availability will be especially crucial given that fellow defender Veljko Milosavljevic will be out for two to three months with a knee ligament injury, joining Ryan Christie (knee) and Ben-Gannon Doak (hamstring) in the medical bay.

Lewis Cook serves the third and final game of his three-match ban on Monday night, but Tyler Adams returns from a yellow-card suspension and will regain his place in the engine room.

Manchester United possible starting lineup:

Lammens; Mazraoui, Heaven, Shaw; Diallo, Casemiro, Fernandes, Dalot; Mbeumo, Mount; Cunha

Bournemouth possible starting lineup:

Petrovic; Smith, Diakite, Senesi, Truffert; Adams, Scott; Brooks, Tavernier, Semenyo; Evanilson

We say: Manchester United 1-0 Bournemouth

Bournemouth's dogged display against the champions of the club world offers significant hope for a trip to Old Trafford, where they could become the first team to ever win three straight games by a three-goal margin or more.

The Cherries' toothless attacking displays of late are difficult to ignore, though, and with or without the AFCON trio, a rejuvenated Man Utd should claim all three points in a tightly-fought tussle.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.