Casemiro scored the lone goal for Manchester United as they defeated Bournemouth on Saturday afternoon to inch closer to UEFA Champions League qualification.
Casemiro goal came early on in the opening half after Christian Eriksen lofted pass. The Midfielder was picked up by Eriksen after making a well calculated run into the back to acrobatically put the ball past Neto and into the back of the net.
United started off the game brightly and were dominant in the first 45 minutes – creating chance after chance.
Before Casemiro scored, the Brazilian and Fernandes had chances to break the deadlock in early stages, but guided their attempts over the crossbar .
After scoring, United had a couple of chances to double their lead before the break, but Anthony Martial and Eriksen failed to find the target from their attempts while Wan Bissaka and Luke Shaw had their shots blocked
Bournemouth came close to scoring from their first attempt at United’s goal but David De Gea made a good diving save to stop Solanke from scoring from his low-shot.
Second half belonged to Bournemouth as the Cherries pushed to level matters from the start.
David Brooks had his ferocious attempt tipped over the goal by De Gea before Ryan Christie’s goal-ward attempt struck Raphael Varane and went out for a corner.
On the other end, Neto made a brilliant stop to keep Bruno Fernandes, who shot with power to force the goalkeeper into a reflex save and keep Bournemouth in the game.
With 6 minutes left on the clock, De Gea made another superb save to deny Bournemouth from scoring. The Spanish goalkeeper used his foot to deny Moore, who was fed though on goal by David Ouattara.
United held on in the latter exchanges of the game to win 1-0.
Victory take the Red Devils to 69 points in their 36 games. They now need one point in their remaining two games to book a Champions League slot next season.
For Bournemouth, they remain 14th on the log with 39 points in 37 games.
