The derby defeat on Sunday and his part in it may yet prove one of the season’s pivotal results, but Romelu Lukaku can at least say that he still delivers a winner on the days when Manchester United face less dangerous opposition. This was not exactly a roaring riposte from Jose Mourinho’s team to their Sunday humbling, but it was a victory, albeit by one goal while elsewhere yet another opponent were taken apart by the winning machine that is Manchester City. Lukaku’s 25th-minute header was the only goal on a rain-soaked, jaded night at Old Trafford, where a home crowd still stung by the City defeat struggled with a home team that tries to control games rather than dominate opponents with attacking football.
Lukaku has managed just three goals since the end of September, before which he had delivered 10 for his club alone, and clearly confidence remains a problem, especially with his defensive mishaps on Sunday. His goal celebration was low-key, so much so it seemed he might not have been the man who got the final touch, but it was him, leaping behind Nathan Ake to direct his header into the goal. While he delivered his third goal in 15 games there was yet another moment in the first half when the Belgian came back to defend a corner and almost caused a catastrophe similar to the two he created in his own area against Manchester City.
Eddie Howe said that he thought the United striker should have been sent off, but in the end the referee Graham Scott chose to book him only for his second serious foul on Harry Arter rather than the one that preceded it on Ake. It could have been very different if Bournemouth substitute Jermain Defoe had buried a chance late on in the game which forced David De Gea to make another fine save. The United goalkeeper had been equal to Bournemouth’s best efforts in the first half and he had to keep his concentration to the end, helped by a solid performance in the centre of defence from Phil Jones and Chris Smalling. At the end, United were still contemplating second place and that 11-point gap to the leaders, City.
The Bournemouth fans stayed to applaud their team and manager, who felt his side had been unlucky not to get a point at the very least, and have not won any of their last five Premier League games. There is only a spread of six points over the entirety of the bottom 10 and Howe is adamant that his team will continue to play their passing game. “We are asking players to play the hardest way,” he said. De Gea made saves from Charlie Daniels and then Dan Gosling before United created their goal. It began with Anthony Martial, working down the left and doubling back to pick out Juan Mata. He crossed to Lukaku, lurking in the centre and able to get above Ake to win the header.
