Man United 3 Bournemouth 1
Manchester United 3 AFC Bournemouth 1, Old Trafford, English Premier League, May 17, 2016. Louis van Gaal´s Manchester United defeated Bournemouth 3-1 thanks to goals from Wayne Rooney, Marcus Rashford, and late substitute Ashley Young. After netting against The Cherries, Rooney had now scored 100 goals in the Premier League at Old Trafford.
Manchester United had begun the 2015-16 Premier League campaign with a close 1-0 victory over Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford, with the winner being an own goal by England international defender Kyle Walker. After gaining three points against The Lilywhites, United went on to win seven of their next twelve matches and they were sitting fourth in the Premiership table in early December. But their form dipped and they went five games without a win before they righted the ship with a 2-1 triumph against Swansea City at Old Trafford in their first fixture of 2016. The win over The Swans was followed by a 2-2 draw with relegation threatened Newcastle United at St James´ Park and a 1-0 success against Liverpool at Anfield where Wayne Rooney registered the winning goal for the visitors with twelve minutes remaining of normal time. Manchester United´s inconsistency continued, though, as they lost four of their next ten fixtures, including a disappointing and frustrating 3-0 defeat against Spurs at White Hart Lane. United then had an unbeaten run of four games, but they suffered another setback as they succumbed to a narrow 3-2 loss at the hands of West Ham United at Boleyn Ground in their penultimate encounter of the season. Now, despite losing against the East Londoners, Manchester United still had a theoretical chance of qualifying for the UEFA Champions League.
Manchester United were without Matteo Darmian and Marouane Fellaini for the final match of the campaign, whereas Bournemouth were missing Sylvain Distin, Tyrone Mingsand, and Tokelo Rantie. United dominated play from the outset against the South Coasters and ultimately took a 1-0 advantage as Rooney found the back of the net with a close range finish in the 43rd minute. Following the resumption, young striker Marcus Rashford registered the second goal of the contest on 74 minutes before Ashley Young, who had come on as a late substitute for Anthony Martial, added a third in the 87th minute, while Chris Smalling managed to put the ball into his own net a mere three minutes later to make the final score 3-1 in favour of The Reds. But, unfortunately, the season ending victory against Eddie Howe´s Bournemouth was not enough to take the Old Trafford side to the UEFA Champions League. Four days later, however, Louis van Gaal won his first trophy with Manchester United when the club defeated fellow Premier League team Crystal Palace 2–1 after extra time in the FA Cup Final; only to be sacked 48 hours later. Not even Tommy Docherty could have timed it better. Manchester United Team: David de Gea, Cameron Borthwick-Jackson, Chris Smalling, Daley Blind, Antonio Valencia, Michael Carrick, Juan Mata, Jesse Lingard, Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford, Wayne Rooney. Substitutes: Guillermo Varela, Phil Jones, Ashley Young, Ander Herrera, Andreas Pereira, Memphis Depay, Sergio Romero. Bournemouth Team: Adam Federici, Steve Cook, Tommy Elphick, Charlie Daniels, Simon Francis, Dan Gosling, Marc Pugh, Matt Ritchie, Drew Surman, Josh King, Callum Wilson. Substitutes: Lewis Grabban, Corey Jordan, Max Gradel, Eunan O’Kane, Junior Stanislas, Benik Afobe, Jordan Holmes.
Manchester United Quickfacts
Manchester United beat Bournemouth 3-0 in an FA Cup Third Round tie at Old Trafford on the 5th of January 1985 courtesy of a brace by Gordon McQueen and a goal from Frank Stapleton.
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