Man Utd v Chelsea Match Preview and Predictions & Betting Odds – 25th February 2018

Pogba (Manchester United)
Paul Pogba (Manchester United) © GEPA pictures

When Chelsea and Manchester United faced each other in November, it was Chelsea who took all three points courtesy of strike from an unmarked Alvaro Morata in the 55th minute.

Jose Mourinho will be looking for a different result this Sunday when Man Utd play host to Chelsea in the Premier League. The Red Devils may be sitting second in the league, but are only 3 points ahead of the Blues. And Chelsea boss Antonio Conte will want to grab this opportunity to put the teams level on points.

Man Utd up next… #CFC #Chelsea

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In truth, the league has become a contest of the best of the rest, with Man City flying, and those in Chelsea colours will want to make inroads. Chelsea have hardly appeared invincible recently, losing 3-0 to Bournemouth at home before Courtois and a 10-man Chelsea side watched 4 go in the net against Watford in a 4-1 loss.

For his part Mourinho hasn’t been that happy of late, but then, what else is new? A defeat to Newcastle in which the Magpies outfought and outran the visitors resulted in more than a few question marks about their ability to close out the season in second place. Newcastle for their part hadn’t managed a home win since October. The shock result supposedly led to a bust-up between the temperamental manager and his star man Paul Pogba. A certain section of the Man Utd fan base believe the discontent is just paper talk, but in any case it certainly can’t help to decrease the tension in the dressing room.

For this game bookies William Hill has Man Utd priced at Evs, Chelsea 14/5, and the draw is 23/10.

Head to Head

Chelsea 1-0 Man Utd

Man Utd 0-0 Chelsea

Chelsea 1-1 Man Utd

Chelsea 4-0 Man Utd

Man Utd 2-0 Chelsea

Chelsea 1-0 Man Utd

The last 6 times the sides have met in the league Chelsea have demonstrated a clear edge, winning 3, drawing 2 and only losing 1. In the same time period they have also met once in the FA Cup with Chelsea the victors once again thanks to a solitary goal from N’Golo Kante.

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Chelsea are one of the few teams with a highly enviable record against the red side of Manchester and Conte won’t wish to see that change. There is certainly no love lost between the two managers and it was clear exactly how much the win meant to Conte the last time the two sides met.

When the red devils chalked up a 2-0 victory against Chelsea last season the obvious fact that Mourinho’s management talents had jumped the fence could be perceived as a sign that Chelsea weren’t to have it all their own way in future. If the switch is to be significant and usher in a new era of dominance for United, Conte has certainly put a pause to that idea, if not fully extinguished it.

Goalscorers

This season the top scorer in the red, white and black has been Romelu Lukaku. With 12 goals to his name so far this season, the Belgian striker has been in good form and that could only be set to improve following the arrival of Alexis Sanchez from Arsenal. It’s only early days but there are encouraging signs that the two have developed a strong understanding already.

Against Huddersfield, the Chilean found Lukaku on no fewer than 8 times, and one of those was an assist for Lukaku to score his second. The price for Lukaku as the first goalscorer is 9/2, or 6/4 for any time. Meanwhile Sanchez is 5/1 for the first goal and 17/10 any time. If you fancy the forgotten man of Man Utd, Zlatan Ibrahimovic to get himself a goal then a price of 11/2 is offered for first goal and 19/10 for any time.

The question for Chelsea fans is who to start, Olivier Giroud or Alvaro Morata? A lot may depend on who gets the nod against Barcelona. Giroud is certainly eligible to play in the Champions League for Chelsea since Arsenal were in the Europa League. In any case, Morata is priced at 6/1 for first goal and 2/1 any time, and Giroud is the same. The bookies can’t seem to pick between them, but Conte doesn’t have such luxuries. Of course, you can’t think about goals at Chelsea without considering Hazard who is priced at 13/2 to open the scoring and 11/5 for any time.

Match Prediction – Draw: The form certainly suggests that Chelsea have the edge in these ties, but less so at Old Trafford. Man Utd certainly have an exciting and incisive new partnership with Lukaku and Sanchez but this is as yet unproven. The Blues frontline is bolstered by Giroud, but with both sides returning from a midweek European football a draw might be viewed as an acceptable result for both sides.