Romelu Lukaku header edges Manchester United past Bournemouth

You could take it either way. This was further evidence that Romelu Lukaku is a flat-track bully or it was proof that some of the negativity that had swirled around him after an insipid performance in the Manchester derby was, like so many things in today’s game, wildly exaggerated.

You could not, however, deny that his header that sent Juan Mata’s cross nestling into the corner of Asmir Begovic’s net was not precious. It kept Manchester United limping along, 11 points behind their noisy neighbours. It turned a game in which Manchester United were threatening to deliver the kind of sullen display they had produced against City on Sunday.

It was snowing but it was falling as slush rather than the thick flakes in the Christmas scenes from Love Actually. Old Trafford lacked any sense of romance. The sting from the defeat in the derby and the knowledge that the title had probably been surrendered in the second week of December had spawned plenty of empty red seats.

Jose Mourinho, whose last programme notes before the festivities wished nobody a happy Christmas and dwelled on the ‘clear penalty’ not given to Ander Herrera on Sunday, stood on the touchline sheltering under a grey hooded coat that looked like it might have come from Millets.

As he walked off at the interval, the Bournemouth manager, Eddie Howe, would have been nursing two grievances. David de Gea had made four saves, one a fine low stop as Calum Wilson’s shot skidded on the sodden surface, and Lukaku was fortunate to still be on the pitch.

Just before the break the striker had been booked for a painful challenge on Harry Arter and in the opening exchanges he had tangled with Nathan Ake and rolled his studs over the defender’s ankle.

In between and against the flow of play, he had risen above Ake to put Manchester United ahead with Begovic giving the ball a forlorn wave as it went past him. Lukaku barely celebrated, perhaps because he is pretty used to scoring against Bournemouth.

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In February, during an extraordinary 6-3 win at Goodison Park, he had scored four against them for Everton. Before this game he had found the net once since a 4-0 rout of Crystal Palace here in September and that the irrelevant fourth against Newcastle. He tends to score against ordinary sides which should worry Gareth Southgate when Belgium take on England in Kaliningrad in the World Cup.

Mourinho would point out that it was a failure to beat the middling teams at Old Trafford that ensured Manchester United finished sixth last season but Lukaku carries a £75m fee which suggests he is capable of much more.

After the interval, the match became more ordinary, more Mourinho-like. Bournemouth threatened less, Manchester United controlled more. Howe threw on the ageless Jermain Defoe who squeezed through a gap, found some space and did his best to beat De Gea at his near post.

Generally, however, Phil Jones snuffed out the increasingly sporadic attacks while Lukaku should have set up United’s second only to see Anthony Martial drive his shot into the Stretford End from almost point-blank range.

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Martial had been fortunate to keep his place at the expense of Marcus Rashford, the only one of Mourinho’s four strikers to really threaten Manchester City. Rashford then proved a point by sending a fabulous shot crashing on to the intersection of post and crossbar.

It was brave and it was brilliant and it was what Manchester United expect from their forwards. As the game petered out, the Stretford End began chanting: “Attack, attack, attack.” At Old Trafford that is all they want for Christmas.

Manchester United (4-2-3-1): De Gea, Valencia, Jones, Smalling, Shaw (Young 83); Matic, McTominay; Lingard (Herrera 71), Mata, Martial (Rashford 65); Lukaku. Substitutes: Romero (g), Lindelof, Ibrahimovic, Blind.

Bournemouth (4-4-1-1): Begovic; Smith, Francis, Ake, Daniels; Wilson (Defoe 71), Gosling (Cook 77), Arter, Fraser; Stanislas (Afobe 71); King. Substitutes: Boruc (g), Cook, Surman, Ibe.

Referee: Graham Scott