Glenn Fernandes
Manchester United are set to be without key first team trio for their Premier League fixture against Chelsea
According to the Manchester United official site (h/t Football.London), Manchester United will take on current Premier League leaders Chelsea sans the trio of Harry Maguire, Raphael Varane, and Paul Pogba.
The last few weeks have been an emotional roller coaster for players as well as the coaching staff at Old Trafford. They have struggled to eke out favourable results with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer given the sack after a humiliating 4-1 defeat to Watford.
Michael Carrick has since taken over the club as a caretaker manager and it is only a matter of time before Ralf Rangnick is appointed as the interim manager till the end of the season. While the Red Devils managed to scrape out a 0-2 victory against Villarreal CF in the UEFA Champions League, the upcoming fixture at Stamford Bridge presents a sterner test.
Harry Maguire
The 28-year-old English defender will miss the fixture against the Blues after being suspended following the red card that he picked up against The Hornets. The sending-off was the culmination of the kind of frustrating performances that the Manchester-based club have put up in recent weeks.
Maguire has been on the receiving end of some criticism and has found it difficult to anchor this backline. The defensive setup at Man United has been repeatedly exposed by the opposition. The former Leicester City defender would have looked to start afresh after a decent international break with England but the red at Vicarage Road saw his intentions go up in smoke.
Paul Pogba
The French international has had a roller coaster of a season. The 2018 World Cup winner is ruled out due to an injury that he picked up while with the French national team. Pogba started off the season in fine fashion and has already recorded seven assists in nine Premier League matches this campaign. While those are some astounding numbers, they are misleading to a great extent as these assists came in the early part of the season when things were going great for the Red Devils.
This season has been the perfect characterization of his second spell at Manchester United. He has impressed in parts and pieces but his lack of consistency and nagging injury issues makes you wonder whether his wage bill and price tag are even justified at Old Trafford right now.
Raphael Varane
Varane is a genuine world-class player who is yet to get his act together at Man United. The French defender picked up a thigh injury at the start of the month and is yet to recover from that incident. The former Real Madrid ace has largely been in the shadows till now and will be waiting to get a proper run of games to get up to speed.
He could help plug in the gaps in the defence and his experience at the elite level could certainly be of help in what has been a defensively disastrous season till now. The demands of playing for a top Premier League club can take a toll on some of the best players in the globe but the United faithful are still waiting to see the best of him in a Red Devil jersey.
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Manchester United have a huge repository of class players in their squad and should be able to compete strongly despite these absentees. While they are a great team on paper, there is still a lot that is left wanting on the pitch in recent times. They have struggled to assert themselves in any area of the pitch. The Blues are also set to be without N’Golo Kante and Ben Chilwell for the fixture after picking up injuries in their fixture against Juventus.
The appointment of a new manager would probably help them get better results on the board but something really drastic needs to happen if they are to salvage any form of respectability this season. The Red Devils would be looking to make a statement after an emotional roller coaster in recent weeks and what better place to do this than Stamford Bridge.
