Date: Saturday
24th October
Venue: Old
Trafford
Kick-off: 17:30
BST
After dropping
points against Southampton last weekend and a goalless draw with Sevilla
midweek, our late kick-off today sees us take on a United side who got back to
winning ways against Newcastle last weekend and beat PSG in the Champions League
on Tuesday night.
Oh, and
they had the making of us last season as well.
It’s not all bad news though, against the Saints last weekend we looked immense going forward and Frank Lampard is clearly trying to tease out the incredible talent we have in our squad. It’s just frustrating that whatever message he gives them before they go out on a pitch, seems to fade from their memories faster than a fly-by-night’s respect for a midfield legend. In fact, as soon as we’re up against a bit of pressing from our opponents, we have all the flair of a US president with the Village People on the sound system. We’ve shipped more away goals than anyone else since the start of last season and this evening, our defence will be up against Marcus Rashford who not only scored the winner against PSG midweek, but has also scored 4 against us in our last 3 meetings, including a brace in this fixture last season. Not forgetting Bruno Fernandes, who has been involved in 20 goals in 18 Premier League appearances for United and wins penalties for fun.
Manchester United haven’t been
exactly solid though, and the 6 goals they conceded against their former
manager’s side would suggest they also have a defence with a tendency to go
walk-abouts during a game. They’ve won five of their last
six games across all competitions though, and whilst those wins have all come
away from Old Trafford, it at least suggests there’s a bit of consistency about
them.
At the
start of the day, Chelsea are the only
club to have won more Premier League fixtures against Manchester United than
they have lost but if we play like we did against Southampton, that won’t be
the case by the end of the day.
MANAGER’S
VIEWS
Going into today’s game, Manchester
United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, says “If you lose games you’re determined to win, to bounce back I
saw that focus at Newcastle and after you beat PSG gives you more belief and
confidence. Two very good performances and results but now it’s the next game
and that’s what we’re focused on.
[Chelsea’s
start] is like many of us, some very good games, some lesser performances,
football is just settling now and teams are just getting into their shape. We
know it’s gonna be a tough game against Chelsea, we had maybe four or five
games against them last year, two teams that know each other really well.”
Chelsea manager, Frank Lampard,
meanwhile, says “We have played
them a lot, in two cup competitions as well as the league. They are a quality
team, individuals and organisation. They
went to Paris and got a fantastic result, and everything is very close in the
league. It’s an opportunity to get some very hard-earned points, but it will be
a tough match. I think the league’s
unpredictable, you can analyse all the games; you talk about certain games were
big teams have conceded a lot of goals or there have been big turnarounds in
games. We’ve been part of one of those,
and so have others. So I’m not interested in that, I think Man United are a
very good team, we’ve played them enough last year to know that and I’m not
concerned about what might have happened in games before. We’ll take them at
face value.”
SQUAD
NEWS
For Manchester United, Eric Bailly may
miss four weeks with a muscular injury, Harry Maguire didn’t play midweek but
is expected to be available today and Mason Greenwood should be off the naughty
step but Anthony Martial is suspended. Predictably, Edinson Cavani is in
contention to make his Manchester United debut against us.
For Chelsea, Kepa is unavailable with
a shoulder injury and Billy Gilmour isn’t ready to return from injury yet. Hakim
Ziyech could make his first start.
TEAMS
MANCHESTER UNITED (Possible line-up): De
Gea; Wan-Bissaka, Tuanzebe, Maguire, Telles; McTominay, Fred; Greenwood,
Fernandes, Rashford; Cavani
CHELSEA (Possible line-up): Mendy; James, Silva, Zouma, Chilwell;
Jorginho, Kante; Mount, Havertz, Pulisic; Werner
LAST
SEASON
Manchester
United 4-0 Chelsea (19 August 2019)
CURRENT
FORM (PL)
MANCHESTER
UNITED: LWLW
CHELSEA: WLDWD
OTHER
STUFF
- Manchester United
can win three consecutive top-flight meetings against Chelsea for the first
time since September 1965.
- Chelsea are without
a win in seven Premier League away matches against Manchester United.
- Chelsea have drawn
four of their eight matches in all competitions this season.
- Manchester United
could lose their opening three home league matches for only the second time in
their history
- Manchester United
last lost three consecutive league fixtures at Old Trafford in 1979.
- Manchester United have
taken 13 points from losing positions in 2020.
- In 2020, Chelsea
have dropped 13 points from winning positions in the Premier League
- Ole Gunnar
Solskjaer has won four of his six matches as Manchester United manager against
Chelsea.
PREDICTION
BBC Sport: Manchester United 2-0 Chelsea
Sportsmole: Manchester United 2-2 Chelsea
90min: Manchester United 2-2 Chelsea
