ENGLAND: Premier League

Date: 28-11-21

Time: 5:30 PM

Venue: Stamford Bridge (London)

Fresh off a crushing 4-0 victory over Juventus in the Champions League (UCL), Chelsea will look to consolidate their position atop the Premier League (PL) table with victory over a Manchester United side who started the post-Ole Gunnar Solskjær era with a UCL win of their own. Now unbeaten in ten competitive games, Chelsea have built this season’s success on a resolute defence that has conceded just four league goals and now look on course to challenge their own PL season record from 2004/05, when they let in just 15.

Along with keeping a league-high 19 clean sheets since coach Thomas Tuchel’s arrival, the ‘Blues’ have been anything but in front of goal, hitting an average of 2.5 goals per league game – a big increase from the 25 goals they struck in Tuchel’s 19 PL games in charge last campaign. That increased potency should worry fans of United, after a pair of 0-0 H2H draws last season.

The departure of Solskjær after last weekend’s humiliation at Watford at least produced a response, as the ‘Red Devils’ booked their place in the UCL knockouts by beating Villarreal. With Ralf Rangnick seemingly set to be announced as the new interim boss, the United players will be keen to impress the new coach after a run of abysmal league results (W1, D1, L5) – including defeats to big rivals Manchester City and Liverpool.

So many big star names will surely deliver at some point but blending them into a team might take time. They have been more effective on their travels at least than at home (10 points vs 7), just as they were last season, and haven’t lost at Stamford Bridge in five matches (W3, D2), which could at least give them some belief here.

Players to watch: Twice a scorer for Chelsea this season, defender Antonio Rüdiger has an odd penchant for match openers, with seven of his eight all-time scoring games for Chelsea seeing him net the game’s first goal – including once against United. Marcus Rashford can better that H2H record though, striking five times versus Chelsea..

Recent Stats:

  • Chelsea’s form in last 5 matches: WWDWW.
  • Manchester Utd’s form in last 5 matches: WLLDW.

PREDICTION: Over 1.5