Abhranil Roy
Chelsea vs Manchester United Preview
Stuttering defending champions Chelsea take on a rejuvenated Manchester United in what promises to be an interesting clash at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.
The Red Devils head to west London having returned to winning ways in the top flight thanks to their 3-0 victory over Stoke City on Tuesday night. Chelsea, meanwhile, were held to a frustrating goalless draw by Watford at Vicarage Road in midweek.The two sides played out a goalless draw when they last met back at the end of December at Old Trafford. United head into Sunday’s clash in fifth place in thePremier League table and five points behind fourth-placed Arsenal.
De Gea wants United to maintain the performance levels that earned consecutive wins over Derby and Stoke. “We need to keep this level because we have really good players in attack – quick, powerful, and they score a lot of goals,” he said on Tuesday.”We always have the confidence. But, in the last couple of games, we have scored three goals and I think it’s been really important to us, and given confidence to us to keep this run going.”
TEAM NEWS:
Matteo Darmian returned to the matchday squad for the midweek victory over Stoke and could start again this weekend. Bastian Schweinsteiger, Phil Jones, Ashley Young, Marcos Rojo, Antonio Valencia and Luke Shaw are all still nursing injuries, however.
New Chelsea signing Alexandre Pato was not considered fit enough to play at Vicarage Road in midweek while Eden Hazard and Gary Cahill started on the bench.
STAT ATTACK:
* Chelsea are unbeaten in their last six Barclays Premier League meetings with Manchester United (W3 D3).
* United have lost more often to Chelsea than any other opponent in the Barclays Premier League era (16 times).
* Man Utd have won only one of their last 13 Barclays Premier League trips to Stamford Bridge (W1 D4 L8).
* Guus Hiddink is unbeaten in his last five competitive contests with Dutch compatriot Louis Van Gaal, winning four and drawing one.
PREDICTED STARTING XI:
MAN UTD: De Gea, Darmian, Smalling, Blind, Borthwick-Jackson, Fellaini, Carrick, Mata, Lingard, Martial, Rooney.
CHELSEA: Courtois, Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Azpilicueta, Matic, Mikel, Fabregas, Oscar, Hazard, Costa.
PREDICTION:
Well, United versus Chelsea games have historically been thrilling to watch, though not a lot as much lately. However, given that both sides have had good times of late, I expect a thrilling 3-2 win to United hopefully.
