BOURNEMOUTH 0, MANCHESTER UNITED 2
A much-changed Manchester United beat Bournemouth 2-0 at the Vitality Stadium to lift them following a dismal Old Trafford defeat at the hands of basement club West Brom on Sunday.
Goals by Chris Smalling and Romelu Lukaku gave the Reds a 4 point cushion over nearest Premier League rivals Liverpool with four games to go as the Reds eased in to their FA Cup Semi final game against Tottenham at Wembley this weekend.
As promised after the West Brom defeat Jose Mourinho rang the changes for the Bournemouth game – seven in all – but retained the services of Paul Pogba, Ander Herrera, David De Gea, and Chris Smalling.
Luke Shaw, Matteo Darmian, Phil Jones, Marouane Fellaini, Jesse Lingard, Marcus Rashford, and Anthony Martial came into the team to stake their claim for a place in the FA Cup game this weekend.
But it was Pogba who responded best with a superb display, setting up substitute Romelu Lukaku for United’s second goal in the 70th minute, which made the victory more comfortable.
Smalling had earlier set the Reds on their way, converting the excellent Lingard’s cross at close range to set United on their way after 28 minutes with his fourth goal of the season.
Callum Wilson had a penalty claim against Shaw turned down in the 56th minute as the Cherries chased an equaliser as tempers frayed in the second half but Mourinho threw on Lukaku to finish the game off, which the Belgian duly did – lifting the ball over Asmir Begovic after Pogba had put him through for his 27th goal of the season.
Bournemouth were denied a second penalty late on with Wilson going down in the area once again following a tackle by Smalling but there was to be no way back into the game for the home side.
Mourinho indicated that Antonio Valencia, Nemanja Matic and Lukaku would return for the FA Cup against Spurs this Saturday but the reaction to his changes from Sunday, especially with Pogba’s performance tonight, clearly pleased him.