WILL DYER (@W2Dyer) delivered fabulous profit during Euro 2016. Here’s his take on a Super opening day Sunday contest from the Vitality Stadium.
Bournemouth v Man Utd | Sunday 13.30 | Sky Sports 1
Eddie Howe is calling this a ‘special game’.
The Cherries manager was linked with the England job this summer but has stayed put on the south coast and compounded on an already exciting young squad with more youthful talent.
Brad Smith and Jordon Ibe both join permanently from Liverpool whilst Nathan Ake signs on loan from Chelsea. Lys Mousset, a French forward joins from Le Havre and Lewis Cook comes in from Leeds.
Tommy Elphick is out the door and steps down a division with Aston Villa and I don’t think that’s a bad thing. The centre-half did well to step up to the Premier League but if the Cherries are to build on last season’s 16th-placed finish, I don’t think he’s the man to run the defence.
Callum Wilson, Tyrone Mings and Max Gradel are all fit and raring to go after a season blighted by injury last time out.
Hark back to this time last year and Wilson was about to go on a scoring run that would see him score five goals in seven games and finish the season as Bournemouth’s second top scorer without playing a single game more.
Wilson was sorely missed. Benik Afobe was a good addition and Josh King also carried some of the weight up front but Wilson looks set to be the first-choice again this year.
With Junior Stanislas, Lewis Grabban, Lys Mousset and Tokelo Rantie also in the squad this team has bags of pace and trickery.
Over at Old Trafford things are starting to look like the Manchester United of old. With Jose Mourinho at the helm and a squad that now includes five or six world-class players this United team could be about to take off.
Paul Pogba, Zlatan Ibrahimovi?, Wayne Rooney, David De Gea and Henrikh Mkhitaryan are all experienced superstars. The question is will they be able to get the chemistry right and can their egos be controlled? If anyone can do that, I think it’s Mourinho.
United won the Community Shield last weekend and I was fortunate enough to have the best seat in the house in Club Wembley. I thought Leicester were the better team though and that could be a sign that United could take a little while to gel.
Luke Shaw should have a great comeback season and improve the defence considerably. I still think the Red Devils are weak in a couple of positions but it’s early days in the new era.
I would not be at all surprised to see United win the Champions League in 2017/18.
Last season Bournemouth won this fixture 2-1 – Louis van Gaal had a terrible away record of W7-D4-L8 in 2015/16 though.
Mourinho was not in charge for Chelsea’s 4-1 win at the Vitality in April but he did oversee the Blues’ 1-0 defeat at Stamford Bridge at the hands of Bournemouth in December, a game the visitors were 8/1 to win.
So it’s fair to say that Bournemouth look a little underrated at 4/1 given the raft of attacking options they possess this season.
Pogba should have an instant calming effect on the United midfield but it could take him a little while to get up to speed after a month without football.
Ibrahimovic was hardly in the game at Wembley before he scored the winner, that could be the story of his time at United though with the Swede so dangerous in front of goal. His relationship with Rooney looks to be a tricky one to predict.
United opened up at around 8/11 but the money has been coming for Bournemouth this week with United easing into 17/20 best price.
I’m following that trend here and backing Bournemouth +0.50 on the Asian Handicap at 11/10 (BetVictor) – the same bet as Double Chance, just more value.
Best Bets
Bournemouth v Man Utd United –Bournemouth +0.50 Asian Handicap (11/10 BetVictor)
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