After a ruthless 4-1 win over Turkish side Fenerbahce in their UEFA Europa campaign, Jose Mourinho will be having a nostalgic visit to the Stamford Bridge when Chelsea host Manchester United on Sunday. The ‘special one’ could be welcomed by boos after he left the club amidst grave crisis. Jose Mourinho has lost 4 of his last 8 games last season at Stamford Bridge.
Antonio Conte, who has done a good job of picking up the spoils his Portuguese counterpart had made last season, will look continue his winning run.
Considering Chelsea’s brilliant record against Manchester United in the Premier League, Mourinho does not expect a convincing win even with his multi-million dollar team. Chelsea have not lost any of their last 7 games against United, while United have lost more Premier League fixtures against Chelsea than any other club in the Premier league history.
Defence
One of the most important things to look forward to in the game would be Mourinho’s defensive lineup. Against Liverpool, his ‘park the bus’ tactics worked brilliantly as they successfully stopped the high scoring team at Anfield. His backline adjoined with two defensive midfielders often make the D –box congested enough for the opponents to be unplugged.
He is expected to deploy similar tactics against Chelsea with the likes of Diego Costa, Willian, Hazard, Pedro and Kanté posing a considerable threat to the United defence. Mourinho will expectantly deploy Daley Blind, Chris Smalling, Eric Bailly and Antonio Valencia at the back. With inspiring performances by Matteo Darmian and Luke Shaw against Fenerbahce, Mourinho has a lot of option at the back.
De Gea will take his position between the sticks after his marvelous performance against Liverpool.
Midfield
After heavy criticism from the media and the fans, Paul Pogba’s reviving performance against Fenerbahce has surely earned him a place in the midfield, however, unlike against Liverpool, Mourinho will look to combat the duo of Matic and Kanté with the deployment of Andre Herrera and Pogba at the central defensive position.
Above them, Mata is expected to take the position behind the striker flanked by Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford. With Martial back, Mourinho is unlikely to play Ashley Young as he would be looking for a more attacking approach against Chelsea.
Attack
Wayne Rooney will only make the bench with Zlatan Ibrahimović leading from the front. Zlatan, however, has not shown much potential in that position till now and Rooney had quite a nice game up front against Fenerbahce. However, Zlatan’s height will provide an added advantage against the likes of Cahill and Luiz.
