Manchester United vs Bournemouth
Ververidis Vasilis / Shutterstock.com
What a difference changing your manager can make, something that Manchester United will certainly attest to. The post Mourinho era has been a positive one for the Red Devils, with a maximum six points earned from the last two league outings.
Admittedly it has only been Cardiff and Huddersfield that interim manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has had to get the better off, but at the same time they have arguably offered the ideal opposition for any new incumbent to face.
And with the visit of a Bournemouth side who have lost seven of their last nine league matches to Old Trafford this weekend, it will give the legendary Norwegian forward even more of a chance to bed into his new role.
Whether he can salvage something from what has been a shipwreck of a season so far, we will have to wait and see. In addition to that, it begs the question as to how exactly success can be measured over the next few months.
If the club can win the F.A. Cup next May, then although it would not have been the prized objective at the start of the campaign, it will at least be a welcome addition in terms of a trophy cabinet that has not been as full as recent years.
Or it may well be that the target is just to finish 4th in the Premier League, something that may prove to be a tall order when you consider that they have to make up eight points on Chelsea who currently possess fourth spot.
Maybe the only real objective is to start playing positive football again and getting the fans on side with a string of good performances. If that is the case, then United have most definitely achieved this in the early days of Solksjaer’s managerial stint.
Huddersfield were no match for a reignited United on Boxing Day as they strolled to a 3-1 win, Paul Pogba who has been often maligned this season was the player who won the majority of the plaudits after bagging himself a second half brace.
It was the kind of display which showed just as to why United spent £89m on him back in 2016 and when Pogba is in the mood to play he not only controls the game but makes his teammates tick also. A trait that will come in handy when Bournemouth come to town.
Eddie Howe’s men will be licking their wounds after suffering a Boxing Day 5-0 defeat to Tottenham at Wembley. At the same time though the fixture computer is no kinder to them this weekend, as it’s a case of out of the frying pan and into the fire for the Cherries.
They are going through a tough spell at the moment in terms of form, even so they still find themselves lying 11th and still more than capable of eventually finishing in the top half of the Premier League table.
That will come via a return to winning ways, something that unfortunately for them will not materialise at Old Trafford this weekend. All the signs point to the Red Devils marching on to a third successive league win under Ole Gunnar Solksjaer.
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