Read Paul Doyle’s report from the Vitality Stadium.

Manchester United have cut Manchester City’s lead to ONLY 13 points. Hooray! More importantly, they’ve responded well to the West Brom debacle and this win means they effectively only need a point to confirm their place in the top four. Jose Mourinho will be pleased. He’s seen plenty of players stake a claim for a starting place in Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final against Tottenham. Paul Pogba was excellent. It’s been a productive night, although Bournemouth will argue the outcome would have been different if Callum Wilson had been awarded a penalty when it was only 1-0. Thanks for reading and emailing. Bye.

90 min: There will be four added minutes. Jose Mourinho is still grinning madly scowling.

87 min: Blind introduces some comedy. Just as he’s preparing to unleash a shot with his left foot, the ball hits his standing right and he swipes at thin air. We can all empathise with him.

84 min: Wilson beats the lunging Jones before being bundled over by Smalling. Nothing doing despite his appeals.

83 min: Jermain Defoe replaces Josh King.

82 min: Mousset shoots over from a tight angle.

80 min: Daley Blind replaces the excellent Paul Pogba, who played like a man with a point to prove.

78 min: United are in complete control.

75 min: Dan Gosling replaces Andrew Surman.

72 min: Nemanja Matic replaces Ander Herrera.

69 min: Rashford fizzes a drive straight at Begovic from 20 yards.

68 min: Surman’s booked for clattering into Herrera.

67 min: The free-kick is right on the edge of the area, in the middle of the D. Pogba and Lukaku stand over the ball. Lukaku slams it straight into the wall. What a waste.

66 min: Mousset clips Pogba’s heels this far outside the Bournemouth area. What a chance for United to double their lead here.

65 min: Martial relieves some pressure with a powerful run. He finds Rashford, whose shot’s deflected wide.

64 min: Lewis Cook breaks past a feeble challenge from Herrera and knocks a pass through to Wilson. The striker’s first touch isn’t great, though, and Jones is able to deflect his shot behind. From the resulting corner, the ball drops to King after a header from Ake, but he can’t get his shot away. Bournemouth feel Jones was holding King back.

63 min: Romelu Lukaku, so often the scourge of Bournemouth, replaces Jesse Lingard.

62 min: United counter and Pogba bursts away, only for Steve Cook to hack him down cynically from behind. A poor challenge and he deserves his booking.

60 min: Smalling’s booked for hauling Wilson down. United are starting to make a few errors.

58 min: Mousset makes an instant impact, barreling down the left. He’s tackled and the ball runs to Daniels, who sees his cross deflected over. The corner comes to nothing. Nor does a Bournemouth free-kick on the right. But this is better from Howe’s men.

57 min: Lys Mousset replaces Jordon Ibe. It’s an attacking change from Eddie How.

56 min: Fraser pings a pass down the left to King, who’s away. King clips a cross into the middle and it looks certain that Wilson will score from close range. Somehow, though, he fails to make any contact with his volley. And why’s that? Because Luke Shaw was fouling him. He had his arms round the striker, a point Wilson makes forcibly to Graham Scott, but the referee waves away Bournemouth’s appeals for a penalty.

52 min: Surman’s corner is headed away and United break. Pogba surges down the right, spins and sprays a lovely pass through to Rashford. He’s forced wide, though, and he can’t pick out a team-mate. Still, United will fancy their chances on the break.

51 min: Wilson hares down a long punt down the right channel, holds of Smalling and wins a corner.

49 min: Lewis Cook brings down the flying Jesse Lingard. He’s booked.

48 min: Rashford finds Pogba on the edge of the area. Pogba tries a backheel. It doesn’t come off. Moments later, after Martial’s ended a promising run with a shot that’s blocked by a desperate Steve Cook, he tries some stepovers on the left and mishits a cross at Begovic. Keep it simple, Paul. Be more like Marouane.

46 min: Bournemouth get the second half underway. Eddie Howe will want to see much more from them. But it takes them less than half a minute to give the ball away, Fraser far too sloppy.

45 min+1: A long throw from Francis lands at Steve Cook’s feet. His shot’s deflected wide for a corner. Nothing comes from it, but Bournemouth keep pushing, only for Fellaini to intercept Ibe’s dangerous cross.

45 min: Wilson takes too long to make up his mind and gets tackled b Fellaini. But the assertive Ake steams in to win possession and force his way through the middle. He’s knocked over but an advantage is played when the ball runs to King on the right. He shoots from 18 yards, but it’s straight at De Gea who pushes it away.

43 min: King breaks down the left, with plenty of options in the middle, but his cross is poor. Bournemouth have wasted a few decent positions.

40 min: Bournemouth are lacking inspiration.

37 min: Bournemouth have been outplayed in midfield. That’s Marouane Fellaini’s influence for you.

35 min: Pogba nips a pass through to Martial. But he’s offside.

33 min: Bournemouth haven’t been ahead at half-time in a home game since 30 December. They don’t start well here. Indeed they’ve only scored the opening goal at home once since then, in the 4-1 defeat to Tottenham last month.

31 min: Lewis Cook bustles through the middle, no one there to stop him. He moves the ball to Fraser, who ducks inside, but he’s off balance and rushed as he shoots and it’s an easy save for De Gea.

27 min: Ake and Rashford race for a loose ball. Ake gets there first and looks to dribble away. But just as he’s about to send the ball up the left flank, Rashford slides in to win possession. The linesman’s right there and he sees no foul, so Rashford’s able to spring up and charge into the area. He decides he might as well shoot and it’s a good effort, stinging the palms of Begovic, who does well to push the ball to safety.

24 min: Bournemouth break at last, Fraser sending Lewis Cook down the left. Cook holds the ball up, swivels and then plays a nice pass back to Fraser, who hurtles into the area before seeing his shot deflected wide of the near post. Bournemouth take the corner shot, with United dozing, but Daniels is beaten to the ball by Jones after threatening to burst into the area again. Better from the hosts.

23 min: Shaw hoists a cross to the far post. Fellaini can’t beat Daniels, though. Bournemouth are a bit of pressure here. Herrera bustles King off the ball. Martial’s shot’s charged down.

20 min: This is drab.

18 min: Martial, United’s most enterprising player, glides through on the left again, only to overrun the ball as he enters a dangerous area, allowing Ake to clear.

16 min: Rashford’s corner is headed away at the near post. Eventually the ball comes to Herrera, 25 yards out, and he skews a shot over.

15 min: Rashford slips a pass through to Lingard on the left. Steve Cook deflects his cross behind for a corner.

14 min: United enjoy some more possession. Then a pass finds Lingard in space. He turns and overhits a through-ball. Mourinho is unmoved.

12 min: Possession update: 62-38 in United’s favour. Take that, Josep!

11 min: Daniels sprays a pass down the line, looking for Wilson, who’s made another good run. He waits for support before finding Ibe, who drills a shot harmlessly wide from 18 yards. Bournemouth will be encouraged, though.

10 min: Wilson chests down a long ball and lays it off to Lewis Cook, who instantly knocks it back into the path of the Bournemouth striker. Momentarily Wilson seems to have the beating of Phil Jones, but the United centre-back does well to recover and outmuscle his man.

9 min: Pogba picks up possession outside Bournemouth’s area. He does no stepovers. Instead he lifts a pass to the far stick for Fellaini, who velcro-chests it down, only for the flag to go up.

8 min: Daniels makes progress down the left, but his cutback’s dealt with by Herrera.

7 min: “Interesting that the squad starting this game, bar Pogba, were all at the club pre-Mourinho,” says Matthias Hammer. “Indeed, I count 4 Mourinho signings among the players dropped. I certainly can’t help but question United’s transfer policy in recent years. How many of United’s big name signings have actually been an unqualified success?”

6 min: Smalling clips a pass over the top for Rashford, but the flag goes up for offside.

4 min: United counter, Martial linking with Pogba and driving at Bournemouth on the left. He wins a corner. Begovic punches it away. “Apart from Pogba, this is pretty much a Louis van Gaal side out there,” says Sanchit Sabhlok. “Which is ironic given that Mourinho probably got these guys in to play faster but lest we forget van Gaal’s second season was a snoozefest. But hey, Martial and Rashford start together! I’m not complaining!”

3 min: The free-kick is to the left of the D, favouring a right-footer. But Bournemouth try to catch United out. Fraser runs up as though he’s going to shoot, only to touch the ball to Francis, who sees his low shot charged down.

2 min: King dribbles inside and is taken down by Herrera 25 yards from goal.

Peep! We’re off, Manchester United getting the game underway and kicking from left to right in the first half. They’re in white, Bournemouth are in red and black.

Here come the teams! The Vitality Stadium’s bouncing, the sun’s out and it’s almost time for some soccer!

Jose Mourinho speaks! “I would say that Matic is looking at Saturday. But not every player out of the team is for the semi. the message is always the same. People sometimes in the stadium or at home can be confused with my message. because my message sometimes is not what people think it is. But in the last match for example the only attacking player I didn’t play was Dwight Yorke, who was in the stands, and I almost brought him on. I put six on and Dwight is quite fit. The message sometimes is different from what people think. We have a fresh team. We cannot complain about 24 hours less than Bournemouth. The majority of players didn’t play the last match and even the ones that started, like Herrera and Paul, Herrera played 45 minutes and Paul played 55, so it is a team where only Chris Smalling played for 90 minutes. My message today was not to speak about the semi-final. It is that we need four or five points to confirm top four. That is target No1 for today. If it is not possible to win, at least reduce it by one point. Saturday the objective is to reach the final.”

Eddie Howe speaks! “We love entertaining the big clubs and we’re looking forward to it. We’re desperate to win. I expect a much better performance from the team today.”

Bournemouth make two changes from the team that lost 3-0 at Anfield on Saturday. Dan Gosling and Jermain Defoe drop to the bench and are replaced by Andrew Surman and Callum Wilson.

Jose Mourinho swings the axe, making a total of seven changes to the Manchester United side that lost to West Brom on Sunday. Out go Antonio Valencia, Victor Lindelof, Ashley Young, Nemanja Matic, Juan Mata, Alexis Sanchez and Romelu Lukaku. In come Phil Jones, Luke Shaw, Marouane Fellaini, Jesse Lingard, Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial. Paul Pogba starts despite suggestions that he would be dropped. Although you almost wonder if that means he won’t play against Tottenham on Saturday.

Hello. On the whole, Manchester United probably don’t really want to be more like Bournemouth. After all, Bournemouth have never won anything, they’re 11th in the Premier League, their stadium’s tiny, they’ve never been asked to promote a superhero film and they don’t even have an Official Office Equipment Partner. Or an Official Outdoor Apparel Partner. Tsk. They’re not doing football right!

And yet they’re happy. How strange. Despite their lack of an Official Tyre Partner, they’re content with their lot in life and it isn’t really that perplexing when you think about it. Bournemouth are unlikely to ever win anything big. They’ll probably never qualify for the Champions League. They might never play in the Europa League. But what they do is enjoy themselves on the pitch. Eddie Howe’s side play with identity, spirit and togetherness and they have style and panache. They entertain their supporters. Howe isn’t some cavalier dilettante, but he likes his players to take risks and he trusts in his methods, even in difficult times.

It’s a refreshing approach in a business that sometimes takes itself too seriously and United look like they could do some of that carefree attitude. Sure, they’re never going to be one of the most expansive teams as long as Jose Mourinho is around. But as they digest conceding the title to Manchester City with that comically limp defeat to West Brom on Sunday, perhaps they could loosen up a little. Perhaps Jose could turn that frown upside down. Perhaps, instead of feeling sorry for themselves, they could use tonight as an opportunity to rediscover some joy.

This, after all, isn’t really an important game. It’s a chance for everyone to have some fun, for United’s attacking players to develop something resembling an understanding, to find a way of not feeling so horribly cramped. Bournemouth, 10 points clear of the bottom three, are surely safe for another season and will spy a chance to a second win over United in three home outings. They’ll go for it. Instead of fretting about this Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final against Tottenham, instead of feeling sorry for themselves after the West Brom fiasco, instead of going back to basics as a form of self-punishment, United could consider responding in kind. Over to you, Jose.

Kick-off: 7.45pm BST.