Chelsea vs Manchester United - Preview

Competition: EPL
Opponent: Manchester United
Venue: Stamford Bridge


Form(latest first)
Chelsea: LWWWW
Man United: WWWWL




In what promises to be yet another watering clash, Chelsea and Manchester United go head to head at the Bridge on Sunday. While the high flying Blues suffered a set back in the UCL in midweek, Manchester United once again demonstrated their ability to come back from adverse scenario, winning 3-2 against Braga after being 2-0 up.

The Reds are at second place in the league,four points behind us and scored the maximum number of goals(21) in the league. But they have also conceded 11 goals,which shows that the defense is leaky. Chelsea have scored 19 goals but have conceded only 6 goals. The Red Devils have not won at Chelsea in their last 10 meetings, a record which no other club in EPL has. Last year saw United making another comeback to draw at 3-3 with two penalties awarded by Howard Webb. But Chelsea are a completely different team from the team that went unbeaten at home for 10 games. With Van Persie and Ronney in their ranks, United are one of the most dangerous teams going forward and our defense have to be wary of them. Van Persie is among the most successful away players at the Bridge,scoring 5 times(all in his Arsenal days). Our defense have not conceded many goals, in fact we have the best defensive record along with Arsenal, but it has looked shaky at times.

United's worry will also be their defense with the team leaking goals at will in the continued absence of Nemanja Vidic. They will have a tough time negotiating the fantastic 3 of Chelsea- Mata,Hazard and Oscar.

RDM will not take any risk with his starting lineup though some of them really seem to be fatigued.

Cech

Cahill                            Luiz

Ivanovic                                                                      Cole

Ramires                  Mikel

Mata                                 Oscar                           Hazard

   Torres

Squad rotation is one area that RDM has been found wanting. With Marko Marin fit, we could probably see him coming on for one of the 3 attacking mid fielders as the game proceeds. Torres has been found wanting in the last couple of matches and would need to answer his critics by scoring in a match of such high profile.

United will probably be lining up in the below formation:

De Gea

Ferdinand                                 Evans

Rafael                                                                         Evra

Scholes                    Carrick

Valencia                   Ronney               Hernandez

Van Persie

The two teams will meet again at the same venue for the Capital one clash on Wednesday. The result of this game will obviously have an impact on the next match. The league may be just onto Game week 9, but 3 points here will give us a 7 point advantage against one of the contenders. 

The match promises so much and lets hope that its not ruined by any bad referring decisions. Can't wait to watch it.

Please leave your thoughts on the game.