Set-pieces, a glaring chink in the Blues armour
Chelsea have conceded just 20 goals in 27 Premier league matches so far and 13 of them have been from set-pieces, which speaks a lot about their hugely applauded three-man defence. While Mourinho will definitely not go all out at Stamford Bridge again, after it backfired pretty horrendously last time (they lost 4-0), this is one of the few threats the Portuguese mastermind could engineer.
Of course, with Zlatan Ibrahimovic out of the equation, set-pieces from United will carry a much lower threat, but we expect the squad to definitely feature Marouane Fellaini and Paul Pogba and get things right from the few chances they are expected to get. Scoring under pressure has been a huge problem for the Red Devils this season, as we saw against Burnley and Bournemouth of late and with chances for them further diminishing at Stamford Bridge, United will have to execute their set-pieces to perfection.
Playing two strikers up front
While a number 9 could really be effective against Chelsea, United doesn’t have that anymore with Wayne Rooney losing most of his predatorial instinct in the attacking third. And with United trying to find most of their chances on the counter this season, a two-forward setup can be helpful in their cause. Chelsea have conceded 35% of their goals from the lower left corner of the goalie, Thibaut Courtois.
While it will be very difficult to pick that area for any forward at will, if he has to deal with the likes of David Luiz, Gary Cahill every time he is moving up, chances of hitting the sweet spot doubles if there are two forwards to raid their defence.
No high-line defending
The only few teams to have caused real frustration to Chelsea are the likes of West Bromwich Albion, Middlesbrough, Tottenham Hotspur and Burnley. And the most common thing among all of them has been their compact and closely-knit defending. And it doesn’t need rocket science to figure out why only Tottenham have tasted success against them; because of their quality attackers.
United’s quality up front is unquestionable and the only thing they would need is a winning chance till the last minute. Mourinho knows Diego Costa well and will deploy equal muscle power to keep him at bay most of the game. However, stopping Hazard, Pedro and Willian will be a different ball game altogether and the safest way to get rid of them is pushing them far wide at every attempt.
