PREVIEW: Chelsea vs Manchester United

As we all know, we have welcomed back the EPL after a week-long international break and the first round of fixtures after the break have already been played, impressing many. The spotlight was on the London derby, where Tottenham entertained Chelsea in what was one of the best derbies ever, and its now time for Chelsea to entertain a familiar opposition in Manchester United!

Chelsea and Manchester United will battle at Stamford Bridge tomorrow!

LOOKING AT THEIR FORM:

Chelsea have really impressed almost everybody this season. And even more to me as a Chelsea fan. Not only with the injection of youth, but also the careful integration of these talents by the coaching staff. And most importantly, they are getting the results. A shock loss to Shakhtar Donetsk in mid-week may have cast a few doubts over their consistency. Moreover, this is the period when the Blues often witness a slump, and that becomes a telling factor in their fortunes, and more importantly, the manager’s. But the Blues are still unbeaten in the Premier League, and they will definitely look to bounce back. They will be impressed with their heroics at Tottenham last week, and will be looking to stretch their lead at the fortress (Stamford Bridge) tomorrow.

For that, they will have to overcome Manchester United.

Unlike Chelsea, Man United haven’t started the season convincingly enough. In six of their eight Premier League games played, they have conceded early on, and have either comeback to win or snatch a draw. The only positive for Man Utd is their attack, with Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie firing all cylinders. Defence has been a spot of bother, and Sir Alex knows it ought to be improved. With Nemanja Vidic spending time on the sidelines, Rio Ferdinand lacking concentration, Patrice Evra lacking pace & focus, and Jonny Evans lacking experience, SAF will look to buy a quality defender in the January. That is almost half the season away, so he will have to manage with what he currently has. He will have to wisely set up his defence against the Blues tomorrow, as any minor error will only lead to a disaster. The major threats to his defence come from the amazing ‘threesome’ of Juan Mata, Oscar and Eden Hazard; who will look to help their lone striker Fernando Torres. Talking about El Nino, he loves to score against the Red Devils and has an amazing record to prove so. He was below-par against Shakhtar like is teammates, and he knows they’ve got a job to do come Sunday. Moreover, he’s still the top-scorer for his side this season, and I have every faith in him that he’ll perform better and better.

Hazard, Mata, Oscar and Torres have been the most consistent performers for the Blues

Rooney and van Persie will combine in attack again for Manchester United

Man Utd will feel relieved they have a man like Wayne Rooney. He’s the player I like the most of all Man Utd players. He possess great all-round skill – he defends, he has the capability of bridging the gap between defence and midfield, he delivers pin-pint crosses, his long balls are accurate, he has a superior vision of his teammates and last but not the least, he’s a natural finisher. Ask him to deliver from a set-piece, and he’s successful most of the times. He’s their ‘servant’. With van Persie playing the ‘lone striker’ role, we’ve often seen Wayne Rooney employed right behind him, and the tactic has clicked. Generalising, Man Utd are excellent on the counter and against the run of play. Chelsea should feel fortunate to have a stopper like Petr Cech, who is in the peak of his form. One would’ve seen Chelsea conceding many more at Donetsk, had it not been for Cech’s heroics!

RECENT PAST:

This fixture has been controversial and a roller-coaster of late. The corresponding fixture last season ended in a 3-3 draw, with Man Utd salvaging a point coming from 3 goals down. The match referee Howard Webb was the center of a troll spree for his controversial refereeing (he awarded 2 penalties to Manchester United and both were successfully converted). In 2010, Sir Alex Ferguson was handed a 5-match touchline ban following this fixture for his alleged outburst on referee Martin Atkinson! These are a few examples that highlight the type of fixture this has been!

TALKING STATS:

Chelsea have been unbeaten at Stamford Bridge against Man Utd in the league since 2002!

Manchester Utd (21) and Chelsea (19) are the league’s two highest scorers, although United have conceded almost twice as many goals (11) as the Blues (6).

TEAM NEWS:

Chelsea:

Frank Lampard will be sidelined for at least a fortnight with a calf problem.

He limped out of Tuesday’s Champions League defeat at Shakhtar Donetsk with a recurrence of the injury he suffered before the international break and will miss both Sunday’s game and the League Cup clash with United as well as a trip to Swansea and the Champions League return against Shakhtar.

John Terry will serve the remainder of his ban in the first three of those games while Marko Marin is back after a minor injury.

Manchester United:

Man Utd midfielder Shinji Kagawa picked up a knee injury against Braga on Tuesday and faces four weeks on the sidelines, meaning he will miss Sunday’s trip to Chelsea and the following weekend’s encounter with Arsenal, plus the return Champions League game with Braga and his country’s World Cup qualifier with Oman on November 14.

Chris Smalling has returned to training after a broken metatarsal but Phil Jones (knee) and Anders Lindegaard (thumb) remain sidelined.

As rightly pointed out by ESPN presenter Andrew Leci, this clash along with the Merseyside derby, and the upcoming US Presidential Elections are similes.

“While certain states in the US can pretty much be coloured in either blue or red many moons before the electorate actually vote, there are plenty of swing voters out there in the football world, when it comes to choosing between the title credentials of Chelsea and Manchester United. Yes, I’m keeping the analogy going for a while, even if it kills me.”

OTHER FIXTURES:

SaturdayAston Villa v NorwichArsenal v QPRReading v FulhamStoke v SunderlandWigan v West HamMan City v Swansea

SundayEverton v LiverpoolNewcastle v West BromSouthampton v TottenhamChelsea v Manchester United

Your predictions?