Manchester United vs Bournemouth
The Premier League Summer Series in America has reached its second round already and, on Wednesday night in Soldier Field, Ruben Amorim’s Manchester United takes on Andoni Iraola’s Bournemouth.
Both teams won their opening fixture, and now the Cherries, who finished ninth in the Premier League last season, will hope to add Manchester United’s scalp to the one they took from Everton in some style. But the Red Devils, who suffered a horrific 2024-25 campaign, already looked a better proposition in their opener against West Ham United.
You can’t read too much into the results of pre-season friendlies, though you can learn a lot. And it’s always better to go into the new campaign in a confident mood, so both teams will take a big shot at making it two wins from two when they meet in Chicago on Wednesday.
Mbeumo waits for his Manchester bow
Red Devils fans have been worried for much of the summer transfer window. They’ve been anxious for some years now, but there has been better news over the past week as Amorim has had a big success in the transfer market.
Matheus Cunha arrived in a £62 million move from Wolverhampton Wanderers at the beginning of the transfer window, but United fans had to wait until last week to see the £71 million transfer of Brentford hitman Bryan Mbeumo finally come to fruition.
The Manchester United board was annoyed that the Bees seemingly touted their striker to other clubs when the deal was in the final stages, so to get Mbeumo over the line was a big relief.
The Manchester United manager has just confirmed that the 25-year-old will play no part in the clash against Bournemouth, though he could be in the lineup for the final match against David Moyes’ Everton. Amorim gave 21 players some gametime against the Hammers, Cunha included. But once again, it was Bruno Fernandes, who picked up where he left off last term as he scored both goals in a 2-1 victory.
Fernandes turned down an offer to join Al-Nassr in a proposed £200 million deal early in June, and that was great news for Manchester United. And that display of loyalty should inspire the other players, existing and new to the club. Players who don’t want to be at Old Trafford, such as Marcus Trafford, are being moved out, and Amorim is looking for unity in his squad.
The Portuguese manager is under pressure to improve drastically on last term’s 15th placed finish, and the SBOTOP Premier League Summer Series 2025 odds say that, without the distraction of European football, a Top 7 place is certainly within reach.
If Mbeumo can add 20 goals, as he did at Brentford last season, then that will be a big factor. Manchester United fans will be desperate to see him on the grass and score his first goal, maybe against Everton on Sunday.
Bournemouth happy to take on the Red Devils
The Cherries faced Everton in their Summer Series opener and they put on quite a show, particularly in the second half, as goals from Daniel Adu-Adjei, Dango Ouatarra, and Philip Billing swept the Toffees aside with some ease. Billing, on his return from a loan at Napoli, looked in great shape and put in a Man of the Match-calibre performance, which is good news for Iraola, who needs plenty of big characters again for the 2025-26 challenge.
The Cherries will be confident when they meet the Red Devils after beating Everton 3-0, the same scoreline as their last two visits to Old Trafford as they plundered unexpected away wins in Manchester. In fact, the South Coast club is unbeaten against the Mancunians in four meetings.
But they will be keen to see how they measure up against one of the league’s wealthier clubs without two of their departed stars. One of the biggest Premier League Summer Series 2025 news early in the summer was the transfer of Bournemouth’s star centre-back Dean Huijsen to Real Madrid, and that was quickly followed by the departure of flying wingback Milos Kerkez to Liverpool.
New signings, Serbian international keeper Djordje Petrovic and 23-year-old left-back Adrien Truffert have both starred in pre-season, which has seen the Cherries beat Scottish club Hibernian and Championship side Bristol City before seeing off the Toffees. They meet Liverpool in the season opener on Friday 15th August, the curtain-raiser against the 2025 champions, and Bournemouth will hope to be pushing around the mid-table mark again next season. We may learn a little more about the progress of both clubs on Wednesday night in Chicago.
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