Chelsea v Manchester United: Line-ups, stats and preview

Chelsea boss Liam Rosenior urged his side to “take advantage of the moment” as they look to arrest their poor form and keep their Champions League aspirations alive against Manchester United.

The Blues have fallen off the pace in the race for the top-five finish that would secure a place in next season’s Champions League, Rosenior’s men having suffered three successive Premier League defeats without scoring a goal.

Chelsea are four points behind fifth-placed Liverpool as a result of that run, but their record in home games with United suggests they can be hopeful of getting back to winning ways.

Indeed, Chelsea have not lost at home to United since February 2020, and Rosenior is desperate to see his side produce a positive performance as they seek a third successive home win over Saturday’s opponents.

“We have to take advantage of this moment,” Rosenior said in his pre-match press conference.

“We’re running out of time, so we need to show that initiative on Saturday evening. We need to play on the front foot and we need to make up those points, which is definitely still possible.

“We’ve had a lot of really strong conversations as a group, and we’ve had some very, very good training sessions. In this kind of moment, you find out about yourself, you find out about your group, and you actually just have to stay focused on the process, which is the here and now.”

Seven points separate Chelsea from third-placed United, who are coming off a surprise 2-1 home defeat to relegation-threatened Leeds United.

The Red Devils’ cause was dented by a highly contentious red card for Lisandro Martinez. His resulting ban and a further suspension for Harry Maguire following his red at Bournemouth has left United depleted at the back.

But Carrick, who has lost only two of his 11 matches as United boss, sees plenty of reason to be optimistic despite those issues and the club’s poor record at Chelsea.

“It’s an important game. We’re in a good position in the league and we want to keep building on that,” said Carrick.

“It’s a tough place to go, always has been, we’ve always had tough games down there. Most of the time they’ve been good games in terms of what it brings, the feeling of a real proper game, so we’ll be ready for that.

“We’ve prepared well and, as I said, we take the confidence from what we’ve built. Yeah, we didn’t get the result we wanted against Leeds on Monday, but certainly the way they finished the game and the character we showed, and we’ve got to take that into this game with an extra player and make the most of it.”

Team news for Chelsea v Manchester United

Enzo Fernandez is set to return from his club-enforced suspension for Chelsea.

Centre-back Trevoh Chalobah is close to a return from an ankle issue, but Reece James still has work to do before he can make his comeback from a hamstring injury.

Jamie Gittens (hamstring), Filip Jorgensen (groin) and Levi Colwill (knee) are all still out, though the latter is making progress in a recovery from the ligament injury that has kept him sidelined for the entire campaign.

The controversial suspensions for Maguire and Martinez come amid the continued absence of fellow centre-back Matthijs de Ligt (back). As such, Ayden Heaven and Leny Yoro appear likely to start in the middle of the defence.

Kobbie Mainoo is again a doubt with an undisclosed injury that kept him out of the defeat to Leeds, while Patrick Dorgu (muscle) is edging closer to a return.

Predicted line-ups for Chelsea v Manchester United

Chelsea: Sanchez; Gusto, Fofana, Hato, Cucurella; Fernandez, Caicedo; Estevao, Palmer, Neto; Pedro.

Manchester United: Lammens; Mazraoui, Heaven, Yoro, Shaw; Casemiro, Ugarte; Diallo, Fernandes, Cunha; Sesko.

Where to watch Chelsea v Manchester United: TV and online streams

Chelsea v Manchester United kicks off at 8:00pm. It will be broadcast on TNT Sports 1 and is available to be streamed on HBO Max. Sky subscribers with a TNT package can also stream the game via Sky Go.

Stats for Chelsea v Manchester United

• Chelsea have lost one of their last 12 Premier League matches against United at Stamford Bridge (W6 D5).
• This fixture has ended as a draw 27 times in total – more often than any other clash in Premier League history.
• Just seven of those 27 draws finished goalless, making it the fixture with the most score draws in the competition (20).
• United are looking to complete a league double over Chelsea, a feat they have only achieved once, back in the 2019-20 season.
• Carrick’s side have taken just one clean sheet from their previous 21 away league matches.
• United have suffered defeat in two of their last four games (W1 D1), having lost only two of their previous 22 beforehand.
• Still, United are one of only two teams in the league, the other being Arsenal, not to have been beaten in consecutive games this season.
• Chelsea have only lost four league games in a row once this century, that run coming between April and May 2023 under Frank Lampard.
• The Blues have not lost four in a row without scoring since the 1997-98 season, a run that lasted from February 8 to March 8 and included a home loss to United.

Prediction for Chelsea v Manchester United

United’s defensive absences should give hope to Chelsea, but Rosenior’s men have proven far too easy to break down of late. An entertaining score draw looks a strong possibility.

Prediction Chelsea 2-2 Manchester United

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