Chris Sutton has made a shock prediction for Monday’s Premier League clash between Manchester United and AFC Bournemouth at Old Trafford.
Bournemouth’s strong begin to the season got here to an abrupt end in November with the Cherries now with no win of their last six games.
Andoni Iraola’s side lost back-to-back away matches at Manchester City and Aston Villa before being held to a 2-2 draw at home by West Ham.
The south coast club then threw away a two-goal lead at Sunderland to lose 3-2 and were beaten at home by Everton before a draw with Chelsea.
Bournemouth’s alarming form has seen them drop to thirteenth – and despite a powerful recent record against the Red Devils – the Cherries will very much be underdogs against a United team who currently sit in sixth place.
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But Sutton has surprisingly tipped Bournemouth to select up all three points after they lock horns with Ruben Amorim’s men on Monday night at 8pm.
‘Bournemouth are on a terrible run of results but they’ve an amazing record at Old Trafford, winning 3-0 there in December in each of the the past two seasons,’ former striker and football pundit Sutton told the BBC.
‘I remember as a player, there have been some teams I played against, or stadiums I played at, where I just felt we were going to get a very good result, no matter form.
‘Perhaps that is certainly one of those games, and venues, for Andoni Iraola and his players. It’s actually the time of 12 months for them to go to Old Trafford and win.
‘So, while I’m going to get pelted by Manchester United fans for this, I’m going to back Bournemouth to stop the rot, and edge this one to make it a hat-trick of wins over United.
‘Fair play to Amorim, though. Even when United do lose this game, then he has definitely steadied the ship since Bournemouth won 3-0 here for the second time, in December 2024.
‘That defeat was United’s third in 4 games and left them thirteenth at Christmas.
‘It felt prefer it was permanently pantomime season at Old Trafford but we are not any longer on the stage where there’s a zeal for Amorim to be sacked every other game.
‘United are still not very convincing loads of the time, but they’re in a a lot better place, looking up the table and eyeing the highest 4.
‘Amorim deserves some credit for that, even when there remains to be loads of work to do… Manchester United 1-2 Bournemouth.’
United have only lost certainly one of their last nine games within the Premier League and have made huge improvements since their disastrous 2024-25 campaign, by which they finished fifteenth and didn’t land any silverware.
The Red Devils smashed Wolves 4-1 of their last match due to goals from Bruno Fernandes, Bryan Mbeumo and Mason Mount.
United are only six points behind second-placed Manchester City as they give the impression of being to secure a top-four finish within the Premier League this season.
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