Manchester United v Bournemouth: Premier League updates – live | Premier League

These days, I can’t think about Manchester United without also thinking about the hair guy. You know the one. He vowed not to trim his locks until United won five games in a row; that was now 436 days ago. Poor Frank. He may have earned plenty of followers with this stunt but he still has to walk around with that ludicrous Beefeater barnet, the living embodiment of his beloved team’s relentless decay.

Still, there are reasons to be positive. United are improving, with Ruben Amorim climbing off the hot seat and getting his team reacquainted with the right end of the table. It’s been a slow process: a first run of three straight wins under Amorim was followed by one victory in five. Last Monday’s 4-1 victory at Wolves looks more impressive in the light of Arsenal’s struggles against the league’s bottom side.

Bournemouth should provide a tougher test, having won 3-0 on their last two trips to Old Trafford. That said, Andoni Iraola’s side arrive here in an alarming slump. Since beating Nottingham Forest to go second in the table in late October, a run of six without a win has dropped them all the way down to 15th in the tightly-packed league table.

A chance, then, for United to stay in the top-four race, move level on points with Chelsea and turn the big win ticker up to two. Next up: a trip to red-hot Aston Villa?! Oh Frank! At least you’ll be warm this winter.