FA Premier League

Chelsea 1:0 Manchester United

Stamford Bridge

Kick-off
Sun, 5 November 2017 @ 4:30pm GMT
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    Frank Grimes said:
    A win here would be such a crucial result and could shape our season. I'm not confident but it is a must win game for Chelsea too and maybe we can take advantage of that.
    Click to expand...

    Would be huge, and would mean we're definitely in the title race, rather than propping the position up on smashing lesser teams.
    However, I don't know how anyone could feel confident, we've probably won there about 2 or 3 times in 15 years. And the last league win was that freak game where they had men sent off, and we scored late.
     
    Now Fellaini is in squad, think it will be

    DDG
    Jones, Smalling, Bailly
    Valencia, Matic, Herrara, Fellaini, Young
    Rashford
    Lukaku.
     
    The start to the season has been good, we are pretty much through the Champions’ League group-stage as group-winners and 23 points from the first 30 is not a bad return. Obviously City lead us by 5 points, but I think they will not be able to sustain their current rate through the next part of the season. United need to have a good winter and when we get to the final 10 games we need to be in a competitive position. So we are probably looking for 42 points from the next 54 which means we can only drop 12 points in this period. We need to be hard to beat, but we also need to win some of the big matches that we have to play in this period and I would love nothing more than three points against Chelsea. Obviously there is a lot of hype around Mourinho going back to Chelsea, but he doesn’t care about this sort of thing, "It's a big thing because it's a big match and because it's a big opponent," said the manager. "They are the champions and because it's one of these matches between the top teams in the country. But, from the emotional point of view, it's just one more game." The pressure is on Chelsea ahead of this game, they are way of the pace in the league, and they are struggling in the Champions League. Tuesday's loss in Italy saw Conte questioning his team's 'hunger' and he added: "We are struggling a lot, because we are facing a lot of important problems." There should be a reaction from Chelsea, they are the Champions and their manager has questioned their hunger, they will play with a big determination and United will need to be on it. Last season United did not perform in this game, we not at it mentally, I expect us to miles better than we were on that day.

    Mourinho has been criticised for his approach in the big games. On a personal note I have no problem with United being more cautious in these matches, it makes sense, yes we can counter-attack better in these matches but the myth that Ferguson was all guns blazing in these matches is just not true. Ferguson was often defensive in big matches too. I think this whole issue is a convenient stick to beat Mourinho with and of course I think the style of football Guardiola and City are producing in these type of games is also not helping Mourinho, but I at the moment I am satisfied with this approach providing we can carry more of a counter-attacking threat too. I think this is where we are really missing Pogba, because he has that amazing ability too continually turn defence into attack with speedy pirouettes and powerful runs in midfield. He is also an amazing passer and without him United are a more pragmatic team. That’s the importance he brings and it’s something Mourinho touched on in his pre-match press conference, “Any other manager would be talking about Paul Pogba every day – but I don’t, only when you ask me about his situation,” he said. I thought United played Tottenham really well last week and I agree with Jose that United probably didn’t get enough credit for their performance. “I know there are different ways of analysing things for this reason or that. Similar performances for other clubs are magic, are examples of brilliant tactics and amazing attitudes by the players. For other teams, the same kind of performance becomes conservative, negative, so many adjectives. But honestly - just as an example - Tottenham beat Liverpool 4-1, Real Madrid 3-1, and Tottenham didn't score against Manchester United, so my players deserve at least a little bit of credit. I think we are doing very well, and really, I think that [journalists] and specialists know the kind of football we were playing at the beginning of the season and now you pretend we never played amazing football, we never scored amazing goals, but I know you remember that.”

    There is no doubt that United will be highly cautious in this game and after Antonio Conte's Chelsea defended atrociously away at Roma in midweek, he is likely to respond by becoming more cautious here. This might be another contest where the two sides wait for the other to take the initiative, depending primarily upon the counter-attack. The interesting thing will the formations both managers use here. Conte's dilemma is - should he play the 3-4-3 system that has been Chelsea's default for the last year, or give the 3-5-2 another outing? The latter would allow him to use Fabregas in a floating role between the lines, and could give Eden Hazard greater license to drift across the pitch away from Manchester United's possible man-marking tactics. Alvaro Morata will lead the line. Mourinho matched Tottenham’s 3-5-2 system last week and can see him sticking with the 3-5-2 here would more effectively 'matching' Chelsea's system. Chelsea have struggled against teams that have done that and it is probably the best way to approach this game. With Kante likely to return Chelsea’s back three should be better protected between the lines, United’s best chance of causing problems will be exploiting the space in-behind on the counter-attack which why I think we will see Lukaku and Rashford together up-front trying to run in-behind and into the channels between Chelsea’s centre-backs and wing-backs. Mourinho will probably attempting to nullify Chelsea's wing-backs rather than attacking them and with both sides filling the centre with combative players and possibly omitting their most creative players it is going to be a tight game.



    Subs - Romero, Darmian, Blind, McTominay, Lingard, Mata, Martial.
     
    So with Fellaini with the squad, anyone think he is definitely going to start instead of Herrera?
     
    minoo-utd said:
    So with Fellaini with the squad, anyone think he is definitely going to start instead of Herrera?
    Click to expand...

    Think he will either start with Herrera or on the bench. Herrera will be there to do a job on Hazard again.
     
    sammsky1 said:
    Plenty of evidence shows Fellaini is better than Pogba in away games vs top 6 teams where we park the bus.
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    Really? Show me some of that evidence then. It's certainly not true based on last season.

    City A - Fellaini was possibly the worst player on the pitch.
    Liverpool A - Fellaini started, wasn't good.
    Chelsea A - everyone was terrible, true, but Fellaini certainly gave us nothing extra

    Did not start at Spurs or Arsenal.
     
    Siorac said:
    And we've reached the peak with the overrating of Fellaini, congratulations everyone.

    Though maybe this isn't the peak, now I think about it. If he misses one more month, he'll be declared our best ever player, probably.
    Click to expand...
    Yeah what's up with the recent waves of Fellaini overrating.

    I mean I've seen suggestions of our poor form attributed to missing key players and Fellaini name is mentioned alongside Pogba :lol:

    He's being talked about as this guy who would have improved us drastically from what we've been showing lately and improve our results greatly. He's been put in that same bracket as Pogba for some odd reason when people talk about missing key players.

    The ironic thing is that it would take all of 1 average performance from him for people to get back to trashing him and using him as a scapegoat for everything going wrong.
     
    Fellaini could make a difference, even just from the bench.
     
    Siorac said:
    Really? Show me some of that evidence then. It's certainly not true based on last season.

    City A - Fellaini was possibly the worst player on the pitch.
    Liverpool A - Fellaini started, wasn't good.
    Chelsea A - everyone was terrible, true, but Fellaini certainly gave us nothing extra

    Did not start at Spurs or Arsenal.
    Click to expand...

    He played well this day imo.
     
    sunama said:
    Because playing your way, we could get 3 pts from the fixture. But most likely 0 points, because of our record at SB.
    But using Jose's way, we will most likely end up with 4 out of 6 points, in the 2 games against CFC, this season.
    If we can implement this strategy against all top 6 teams, ie. get 4 out of 6 points, that'll win us the title.

    There are some people in here who think that we can't win the title this season. I disagree. I think we are absolutely going for the title and the above strategy is a title winning strategy (albeit a boring, unadventurous strategy).
    Click to expand...

    You do make a good arguement and I'm sure that's what Jose will do - I agree, I think we can win the league this season

    I'd just love to see United play confidently and dominate a game at Stamford Bridge for a change!
     
    SwansonsTache said:
    Think he will either start with Herrera or on the bench. Herrera will be there to do a job on Hazard again.
    Click to expand...

    Ander's form has been terrible recently. Last season he did a brilliant job on Hazard but not sure if he'll be up to it this time around. Feel like it's a battle Hazard might win, or might result in Herrera being sent off.
     
    Donovan_red7 said:
    Ander's form has been terrible recently. Last season he did a brilliant job on Hazard but not sure if he'll be up to it this time around. Feel like it's a battle Hazard might win, or might result in Herrera being sent off.
    Click to expand...

    Not like we have an alternative.
     
    el3mel said:
    Will anyone put Fellaini as a starter in the predictions ? :lol:
    Click to expand...

    I am. Just changed my lineup.

    3-5-2. Close call for Rash/Martial

    ----------Rash-------Lukaku-------
    ------Fellaini------------Herrera---
    Young---------Matic---------Valencia
    -----Jones-----Smalling-----Bailily


    1. Recovered from "not a big injury"
    2. With both Herrera & Mkhi underperforming, midfield certainly needs injection of life (Yes Mkhi #10 but still playing half the role of CM)
    3. Tactical hoof ball
    4. The worst case scenario that if he gets injured in this match, we will very likely have PogBack for next game after internationals

    All in all, I think Jose will take the risk.

    Game like this is won in midfield. I believe Jose can't be happier having one/both Fella/Pog back.
     
    ManuMou said:
    I am. Just changed my lineup.

    3-5-2. Close call for Rash/Martial

    ----------Rash-------Lukaku-------
    ------Fellaini------------Herrera---
    Young---------Matic---------Valencia
    -----Jones-----Smalling-----Bailily


    1. Recovered from "not a big injury"
    2. With both Herrera & Mkhi underperforming, midfield certainly needs injection of life (Yes Mkhi #10 but still playing half the role of CM)
    3. Tactical hoof ball
    4. The worst case scenario that if he gets injured in this match, we will very likely have PogBack for next game after internationals

    All in all, I think Jose will take the risk.

    Game like this is won in midfield. I believe Jose can't be happier having one/both Fella/Pog back.
    Click to expand...
    Just don't think our midfield will be shaped like that, due to Fellaini's usefulness upfront and Herrera's job on Hazard. And if our last game against Chelsea is any reference, I would say it's more likely it will look like this, with Fellaini dropping even more to the right to cover for Herrera:

    ----------------Fellaini---------------
    Young----Matić----Herrera----Valencia
     
    Android1974 said:
    Just don't think our midfield will be shaped like that, due to Fellaini's usefulness upfront and Herrera's job on Hazard. And if our last game against Chelsea is any reference, I would say it's more likely it will look like this, with Fellaini dropping even more to the right to cover for Herrera:

    ----------------Fellaini---------------
    Young----Matić----Herrera----Valencia
    Click to expand...


    You are right. Agree with you. Even if Herrera doesn't man mark Hazard he will play a big part in defending against him.
     
    Let's list down all the possible emotions we can expect to feel tomorrow:
    Frustration
    Anxiety
    Disgust
    Hopelessness
    Pain
    Anger
    Sadness
    Dread
    Sorrow
    Grief
    Rage
    Restlessness
    Discontentment
    Revulsion
    Aversion
    Alarm
    Panic
    Disappointment

    Now that all those are out of the way, let's go and win this!

    Hope springs eternal.
     
    minoo-utd said:
    So with Fellaini with the squad, anyone think he is definitely going to start instead of Herrera?
    Click to expand...

    He will be on the bench. Jose won't start him immediately against a major opponent. But I would be glad to have him there in case we get run over in midfield or if we need some goals in the second half.
     
    In our last title winning season our away wins early in the season against City and Chelsea really gave us the confidence to go on a great run of form. They were convincing wins, too. We need a win here so I hope José goes for it.
     
    I definitely can't see Fellaini starting, he simply can't be match-fit. Maybe play the last 20 minutes unless things go really awry and a big change is needed earlier.

    As with everyone else, I don't see this being much of a game.
     
    Lose this and it's another week of avoiding anything football related.
    Man Utd, please show hands.
     
    Adisa said:
    Lose this and it's another week of avoiding anything football related.
    Man Utd, please show hands.
    Click to expand...

    Lol.....longer unless you are interested in international football
     
    charlenefan said:
    Just look at all the Fellaini love :drool:
    Click to expand...

    If I had a choice between Pogba or Fellaini, for this game, I'd pick Fellaini.

    I know this may cause dismay among some supporters, but this is just my preference for this match, where we are aiming for a 1-0 win against a team who dominate us almost every single time we play at SB. We need someone who is going to do the nasty/dirty stuff that no other player will. Someone who will be arms/elbows and cause chaos and mayhem, when we get the ball near the opposition's goal.
    For most games though, Pogba is a far better option.
     
    The No.10! said:
    Based on current form, I'd go with Lingard in place of him. Mata is not played centrally by Jose, so that's that, and in any case he doesn't start him in these big matches, so that's out of the question as well.

    If Kante is in FACT back, that will be a huge boost for them, and possibly the turning point of the game before even a ball is kicked.
    Click to expand...

    I would not want to see Miki up against Kante.
    It'll be a complete mismatch.
     
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Man of the Match

David de Gea image David de Gea 40% of 663 votes

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Score Predictions

334,104,231
  • Man Utd win
  • Chelsea win
  • Draw

Detailed Results

  • 20% Chelsea 0:1 Man Utd
  • 17% Chelsea 1:1 Man Utd
  • 17% Chelsea 0:0 Man Utd
  • 13% Chelsea 1:2 Man Utd
  • 12% Chelsea 0:2 Man Utd
  • 5% Chelsea 1:0 Man Utd
  • 4% Chelsea 2:1 Man Utd
  • 4% Chelsea 2:0 Man Utd
  • 2% Chelsea 1:3 Man Utd
  • 1% Chelsea 0:5 Man Utd
  • 1% Chelsea 0:4 Man Utd
  • 1% Chelsea 0:3 Man Utd
  • 1% Chelsea 2:2 Man Utd
  • 1% Chelsea 3:0 Man Utd
  • 1% Chelsea 3:1 Man Utd
  • 0% Chelsea 5:0 Man Utd
  • 0% Chelsea 4:0 Man Utd
  • 0% Chelsea 2:3 Man Utd
  • 0% Chelsea 2:4 Man Utd
  • 0% Chelsea 3:3 Man Utd
Compiled from 669 predictions.
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Match Stats

  1. Chelsea
  2. Man Utd
Possession
54% 46%
Shots
18 10
Shots on Target
8 2
Corners
4 7
Fouls
16 20

Referee

Anthony Taylor

Man Utd Lineup

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