Chelsea v Man United – Preview, Predictions and Best Bets

Chelsea faces Man Utd in the English Premier League on Sunday evening. The Blues top the table with the best defensive record and have been outstanding in their last two matches. Man Utd has avoided defeat to Chelsea in their last seven league meetings and Michael Carrick will hope to get a result before reportedly being replaced by Ralf Rangnick.

Chelsea Form

Chelsea is 10 matches unbeaten across three competitions. In the league, they have been several highly impressive attacking displays. Norwich was thrashed 7-0, Newcastle was beaten 3-0 at St. James’ Park and Leicester pushed aside 3-0 at the King Power. Their last match saw a top performance to beat Juventus 4-0 at home.

Their only setback of late was a 1-1 home draw with Burnley just before the international break. They should have won that match and dominated throughout but were sucker-punched with a late equalizer.

Chelsea Team News

Thomas Tuchel is without Ben Chilwell after his serious knee injury. Marcos Alonso will come into the XI at left wingback. N’Golo Kante is expected to be out injured in midfield. Mateo Kovacic is also absent so Ruben Loftus-Cheek will start.

Mason Mount and Kai Havertz (hamstring) are expected to come back into the XI otherwise Hakim Ziyech or Christian Pulisic could start. Trevor Chalobah will hope to keep his place in preference to Andreas Christensen. Romelu Lukaku will be on the bench against his former club.

Chelsea Motivation

Chelsea will look to dominate possession and will look to take all three points. A draw would be seen as a poor result. Tuchel will be aware of the counter-attacking threat posed by Man Utd and could set up a more circumspect structure when on the ball.

Man United Form

After seven losses in 13 matches, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was sacked and replaced by Michael Carrick as caretaker coach. He oversaw a 2-0 win away in Villarreal in the last match to secure qualification to the knockout stages as Ronaldo and Jadon Sancho scored.

Before that, there were disastrous performances to lose 4-2 at Leicester, 5-0 at home to Liverpool, and 4-1 at Watford. A 2-0 Manchester derby defeat also came in that terrible run. Solskjaer’s last seven matches saw 19 goals leaked.

Man United Team News

Man Utd has several unavailable players for this match. Harry Maguire is suspended and Raphael Varane is injured at center-back. Victor Lindelof will partner Eric Bailly. Luke Shaw is a doubt after a concussion so Alex Telles is on standby.

Edinson Cavani (injury) and Mason Greenwood (COVID-19) as absent in the attack, where Jadon Sancho should start alongside Cristiano Ronaldo and likely Marcus Rashford. Paul Pogba is injured in midfield but Bruno Fernandes should return in place of Donny van de Beek.

Man United Motivation

United sat back at Villarreal and have had great success doing that against Chelsea in recent meetings (seven matches unbeaten in the league). Expect Fred and McTominay to sit deep and for United to look for quick counters and balls over the top for Ronaldo and Rashford.

A draw would be a decent result and one Carrick could be quite happy to accept. He looks to be on the verge of being replaced by Ralf Rangnick.

Key Stats

Chelsea have conceded just 4 goals in 12 PL matches

Chelsea have kept 4 clean sheets in their last 5 PL matches

Chelsea’s last 7 wins have come to nil

Chelsea are winless in their last 7 PL matches against Manchester United

Man Utd have lost 2 of their last 6 matches

Man Utd have kept a clean sheet in each of their last 4 PL meetings with Chelsea

Man Utd have conceded 11 first-half goals in their last 7 matches

Ronaldo has scored just 1 goal in 15 apps against Chelsea (0 in 10 PL matches)

Man Utd have lost 7 of their last 14 matches

Verdict

Chelsea will see Man Utd as there for the taking. Anything less than a win would be a poor result. The stats point to a CFC win and considering Ronaldo’s record vs Chelsea and Man Utd’s reliance on him, a clean sheet is possible.