England Premier League
Monday 17th February 2020
Kick off at 8pm GMT
Venue: Stamford Bridge
Match Preview:
The Monday night game has all the ingredients to be a classic as these two huge Premier League teams clash at Stamford Bridge.
For Chelsea the objective is to keep 4th place and lock it down. For Manchester United it is to try and close the gap on 4th. United are currently six points behind the Blues and if they were to lose this match, especially with the teams between them, surely that would signal the end of their Champions League qualification hopes for next season? At the same time 5th place could become an option for the competition if Manchester City don’t win their appeal, the club were banned from the Champions League for 2 years by UEFA.
Chelsea will need to find consistency if they are to qualify for the Champions League and whilst the club have done well this season considering new manager Frank Lampard with not much experience also had summer transfer ban, they have still looked underwhelming at times. The club come into this game with just 1 win in their last five and have drawn their last two matches in a row. Last weekend they could only draw 2-2 at Leicester, and so 3rd place doesn’t look like a realistic target for the club, they are 9 points adrift of the Foxes but do have this extra game to play.
What has been interesting with Chelsea is that only 18 of their 41 points have come at Stamford Bridge. Normally for a club like Chelsea we would be looking at that figure being around 25 points, but they have a better away record, which bucks the football trend that you have a home advantage. The club have only been able to win 5 games this season at home, just over 40% win rate, which is poor for them. Their last home game ended 2-2 against Arsenal and they have just one win here from their last four.
Manchester United come into this match in much the same form as their hosts, just one win in their last five games. They drew their last match against Wolves ending 0-0 and away from home the club would be in 11th place. United have lost 50% of their games on the road and won just 3 all season. They have recently lost 3 of their last four games away from home though their last two were particularly difficult in Arsenal and Liverpool.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men will have good recent memories of playing at Stamford Bridge though as they knocked Chelsea out of the Carabao Cup earlier this season winning the game 2-1.
Team News:
Chelsea: Tammy Abraham has an ankle injury but is touch and go and will be assessed ahead of the game. Ruben Loftus- Cheek has recovered from injury but has a lack of match fitness and could be a doubt for this game
Manchester United: The club have no new injury concerns coming into this match but are still missing quality in the likes of Paul Pogba, Marcus Rashford and Scott McTominay who are all not due back until the end of the month at the earliest
Chelsea vs Man Utd Head to Head:
Last season in the league this game finished 2-2.
Chelsea have no wins against Manchester United since 2017 going back five games.
In the league, Manchester United have not won at Chelsea since 2012.
Chelsea vs Man Utd Prediction:
Both teams can’t afford to lose this game, they have had not too dissimilar seasons and there is little to choose between them. Each time Chelsea have had to step up at home they have failed to do so, and not being able to beat the teams around them has stifled their season. United have key players out though and if they get something from this game it will just underline how average Chelsea have been at home this season. There are certainly cracks in this Chelsea team that have been glossed over by individual performances, but they are not playing a strong United side. The head says this is a draw all day long, though that can be a risky choice but we will take the draw at half time as our main pick.
Chelsea vs Man Utd Betting Tips:
Draw at half time at 2.10
Highest Scoring Half: 2nd half at 1.91
5 or more cards to be shown at 1.80
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