United and Cherries slug it out in a thrilling goalfest

On the night Ruben Amorim delivered the surprise of the season by jettisoning his beloved 3-4-3 formation, Manchester United contrived to put part of his new shape in the scoreline.

- RICHARD JOLLY

A 4-4 was not a tribute to Amorim's unexpected switch to 4-4-2 as much as the consequence of an extraordinary evening of frenzied attacking, poor defending and flawed goalkeeping as two sides traded free kicks and comebacks.

Entertaining mayhem at their home could come at a cost to United. Ahead 1-0, 2-1 and 4-3, they missed the chance to go fifth and extended an undistinguished run on their own turf. Ten-man Everton won at Old Trafford, relegation-threatened West Ham drew and so, in ludicrous fashion, did out-of-form, goal-shy Bournemouth. What could have been nine points at Old Trafford is instead just two.

And yet to concentrate on the wider ramifications would be to overlook the eight goals that came amidst the bemusing, confusing drama. It may have been fitting that the last of them came from Bournemouth, Eli Junior Kroupi coming off the bench to procure Andoni Iraola's side a point. It still required two saves from Senne Lammens to stop David Brooks turning that into 5-4 triumph for Bournemouth. Even so, it was the first time United scored four goals in a league game without taking three points since Sir Alex Ferguson's final match, a 5-5 draw with West Bromwich Albion.