Bournemouth will welcome back one of their star players after a long injury layoff at Old Trafford this weekend.
Manchester United face a high-stakes clash with Bournemouth on Sunday. The Cherries enter the game fresh off a 3-0 win over AC Milan in the Europa League, while Michael Carrick’s side lost 4-1 to Como in the Champions League and has won just two of its first 11 games this season.
Another slip-up on Sunday could cost Carrick his job. There’s already lots of speculation around his future, with former Chelsea and Tottenham manager Antonio Conte keen on the job. All of this noise doesn’t help, but Carrick must focus on the next game and securing three points at home against Bournemouth.
Despite a historic, momentum-building win over AC Milan, Bournemouth’s Premier League form has been a mixed bag under Marco Rose. That explains why they’re lower than United in the table, 15th ahead of a big trip to Old Trafford.
Junior Kroupi to return against Man Utd
With United needing three points and nothing less, the last thing Carrick wanted to hear ahead of the game was that Bournemouth’s star player Junior Kroupi would be making his eagerly awaited return at Old Trafford. The France under-21 international was subjected to transfer interest from Arsenal and other top-flight clubs in the past year, with the Gunners understood to be tracking his progress on their radar.
Kroupi has yet to appear for Bournemouth this season, after sustaining a fractured metatarsal injury during the club’s pre-season training camp in Austria. The 20-year-old underwent surgery and has been closing in on a return.
Manchester United correspondent for The Sun, Katherine Walsh, provided an update from Rose’s press conference, where he said Kroupi was set to be involved against United. Rose said: “The plan is to take him with us to Manchester and give him some minutes.”
This, of course, backs up what Rose said on Wednesday before his side took on Italian giants Milan. He said: “Junior is back into the team but not on the UEFA list (ruling him out of the win over Milan), but maybe we can have him for some minutes in Manchester.”
Kroupi was not listed as part of Bournemouth’s Europa League squad and was ineligible. It will be a different story when he unleashes the young forward, who enjoyed an incredible breakthrough season at Bournemouth last term. The former Lorient starlet was the top scorer at the Cherries with 13 league goals.
In Kroupi’s absence, Rose has turned to Bournemouth’s other attackers such as Evanilson and summer arrival Alvaro Rodriguez. They also have Rayan on the wing who can cause problems with his pace.
Kroupi has a decent recent record against United, despite both matches ending as draws (4-4 and 2-2). He scored one goal in each of those high-scoring matches.
from United In Focus https://ift.tt/VuFYzrd