It will be the return of the once favourite son of Chelsea now hailed as “Judas”, to Stamford Bridge tomorrow as the Blues host Manchester United for an eagerly awaited showdown. Jose Mourinho will take his unusual walk towards the away team’s dugout at SW6 and will want nothing less than a victory against his former club where despite achieving so much, he was given the boot in an extremely unceremonious fashion.
Chelsea come into the match after a stuttering start to the new season and at the back of a heavy defeat at the hands of AS Roma. The Blues were comfortably outclassed by the Italian side for the midweek clash and Conte’s first visit to Italy as Chelsea manager ended with a 3-0 defeat. The Blues have suffered three league defeats already this season and will look to the Sunday showdown as a chance to seek redemption in front of the Stamford Bridge faithful.
Manchester United, on the other hand, continued their perfect start to the Champions League by defeating Benfica 2-0 and making it four wins out of four. On the Premier League front, things have slowed down comparatively after a blistering start to the season. Injury to their star player Paul Pogba has resulted in Manchester United losing their midfield swagger and the team has struggled on certain occasions to achieve results with the same ease as before.
The two managers are preparing for a third face-off with both managers collecting one win apiece. While Don Conte’s men routed the Red Devils 4-0 upon Mourinho’s first return to Stamford Bridge last year, it was a Mourinho masterclass at Old Trafford as his men shut out a free-flowing Chelsea with a tactical display of great calibre and went on to win the match 2-0.
This time around the Manchester United go into the fixture favoured to win the match by taking advantage of the unrest brewing at Chelsea. Mourinho will be going into the match without his midfield ace Pogba, veteran Michael Carrick, Marcos Rojo and the iconic Zlatan. He will, however, be hoping that Chelsea old boy Romelu Lukaku will be able to get on the scoresheet against his former club while summer signing Nemanja Matic will take care of any defensive issues that might arise.
Chelsea come into the match with an almost full squad with only Victor Moses ruled out. Chelsea’s midfield mainstay N’Golo Kante has started training with the first team and although he might not start, he is surely expected on the bench.
Predicted Line-Ups:
Manchester United: De Gea, Valencia, Jones, Bailly, Young, Matic, Herrera, Lingard, Mkhitaryan, Rashford, Lukaku
Chelsea: Courtois, Azpilicueta, Luiz, Christensen, Cahill, Alonso, Drinkwater, Fabregas, Hazard, Morata, Pedro
Prediction:
Chelsea 1-1 Manchester United
Betting Odds:
Chelsea: 6/4
Draw: 11/5
Manchester United: 21/10
