The main talking point before Manchester United hosted Bournemouth on Sunday was captain Bruno Fernandes' absence from the starting lineup. Michael Carrick reportedly made the decision following Fernandes' disappointing performances and his public frustration with the head coach's tactics after the midweek defeat to Como.

The opening stages of the Premier League encounter were closely contested, with neither team able to establish a clear advantage. Both sides crowded the centre of the pitch, pushing much of the attacking play to the flanks, while genuine goalscoring opportunities remained limited.

Despite limited chances, Bournemouth eventually broke the deadlock in the 38th minute. Rayan capitalised on an excellent free-kick delivery from Justin Kluivert, finishing the opportunity to give the visitors a valuable lead heading into the closing stages of the first half.

United's problems worsened quickly as Bournemouth found a second goal shortly after. Leny Yoro appeared to slip on the rain-soaked surface, allowing Adrien Truffert to deliver the ball across the box for Marcus Tavernier, who made no mistake from close range, leaving the hosts facing a difficult challenge.

The situation deteriorated further after the interval, with Bournemouth briefly celebrating a third goal before the effort was ruled out for offside. However, United struggled to mount any meaningful response, and their hopes of recovering were effectively ended in the 71st minute. Goalkeeper Senne Lammens rushed out of his area but misjudged his attempt to deal with Evanilson, allowing the Bournemouth forward to finish superbly and seal a convincing victory for the visitors.

Owing to Manchester United's centre-back injury issues at the start of this season, 20-year-old Ayden Heaven has been given plenty of time in the starting eleven and started against Bournemouth.

With the score sat at 0-0, the young centre-back could count himself fortunate to not have been sent off following a dangerous challenge where Heaven launched into a reckless two-footed tackled on Bournemouth forward Evanilson.

Fortunately for the English centre-back, Evanilson managed to step out of the way, and the evasion likely saved the United player from receiving a straight red card, and was instead yellow-carded.

Speaking on Sky Sports commentary during the game, Gary Neville didn't hold back on his view of the challenge, saying, "He’s lucky that the Bournemouth player pulls away from it because he jumps in two-footed.

"I’m glad he jumped out of the way because you don’t see that technique of challenge anymore.

"What is he doing? I know he’s young but that’s just not a tackle. He’s very lucky the Bournemouth player steps away. There’s no contact so it’s only a yellow but don’t do that again. I’ve not seen a tackle like that since 1984!"

Bournemouth went on to score from the resulting free kick after Heaven's challenge, and were quickly two goals ahead after an unfortunate slip by Leny Yoro allowed Adrien Truffert to square the ball to Marcus Tavernier, who tapped it home from close range.

The 3-0 defeat means United have now kept only one clean sheet in their last 12 games across all competitions, and that was against Azerbaijani side Sabah in the Champions League in September.

Injuries have hampered United's defensive options, with Matthijs de Ligt just coming back into the side after a year out with a back injury, while Luke Shaw, Heaven and Lisandro Martínez have also been sidelined, meaning Diogo Dalot has been forced to fill in at left-back, while Leny Yoro has looked decent deputising at right-back.

Manchester United not reinforcing the defensive area of the pitch looks like a worse decision as the weeks go on, with United lacking a fit senior left-back and very few fit, consistently available centre-back options, with Harry Maguire and Leny Yoro being the only centre-backs who have been consistently available this season.