Chris Sutton reveals his Man United v Bournemouth prediction

Chris Sutton is backing Manchester United to make it four wins on the bounce with a 3-0 home victory over Bournemouth in the Premier League on Tuesday night.

The Red Devils started 2023 in fourth place in the Premier League table, with Erik ten Hag’s side having shown promising signs of improvement, winning four of their last five outings in the top flight.

Ten Hag’s side were 1-0 winners away to Wolves on New Year’s Eve and they will be keen to start the new year on a positive note when they welcome struggling Bournemouth to Old Trafford.

Bournemouth are 15th in the Premier League table and have lost four of their last five outings in the top flight heading into their trip to Old Trafford.

Recent history certainly favours United heading into this game, with the Red Devils having won seven of the 10 Premier League meetings between the two sides. Bournemouth have also lost eight of their nine away games against Manchester United in all competitions.

Former Chelsea FC star Sutton doesn’t see Bournemouth’s fortunes changing on Tuesday night and he is backing Manchester United to continue their top-four pursuit by claiming a straightforward home victory.

Writing in his column for BBC Sport, Sutton said: “I am a bit worried about where Bournemouth are heading – they have lost six of their past seven league games and conceded two poor goals from set plays against Crystal Palace.

“With five successive wins in all competitions, Manchester United are heading in the opposite direction.

“It obviously helps a lot that Marcus Rashford is playing so well at the moment, but Erik ten Hag is doing a very good job and they are a team that looks full of confidence.”

Manchester United’s strong home form has been a key part of their recent success under Ten Hag, with the Red Devils having won their last six games at Old Trafford.

And the Red Devils boss has talked up the importance of his side turning their home ground into a “fortress” once again if they are to continue improving in 2023.

Asked about the importance of Manchester United’s form at Old Trafford, Ten Hag replied: “Yeah definitely, it has to be [a fortress].

“We want to be resilient and we want to be playing with discipline in our game, we expressed that with 11 in attack and 11 in defence.

“It’s about doing your job, being hard to beat in every duel as a team, in every game, and we are heading in the right direction.

“So we are happy with that, but we can’t be satisfied as we don’t want any laziness and laziness means the performances will drop. So we have to keep focused and keep improving on details and keep getting better every day because good is not good enough.”