A colossal battle for top places will commence at Stamford Bridge when fourth-place Chelsea welcomes fifth-place Manchester United separated only by a point.
The Red Devils achieved their sixth win in the campaign by striking two goals past Tottenham in midweek on the same night Chelsea shared the spoils at Brentford in a scoreless draw.
CHE vs MUN Match Details
Date: Saturday, 22 October 2022
Time: 17:30 (BST) / 22:00 (IST)
Venue: Stamford Bridge, London
CHE vs MUN Match Preview
For the first time under Graham Point, Chelsea failed to score or register a win in the Premier League after failing to breach a stringent Brentford defense with Kepa Arrizabalaga saving their blushes at the other end of the pitch once again by making crucial saves in the game decided by goalkeepers on either end. The former Athletic club shot-stopper is suddenly making a late claim to be in the World Cup squad for Spain in Qatar after a string of excellent performances regaining the number-one status for Chelsea ahead of Edouard Mendy. Manager Graham Potter will be happy with Kepa’s performance and the defense keeping a third consecutive clean sheet, fifth in all competitions, but the lack of a finishing touch was a disappointment. Chelsea so far has found the back of the net seven times in the Premier League and taken major shares of possession with five shots on target against the Bees in the midweek the trend was expected to continue but it didn’t. Brentford’s goalkeeper and fellow Spaniard to Kepa, David Raya also showed his glove work by pulling out five saves too frustrating Chelsea in the process. The Blues will hope to stress on their finishing in the training ahead of matching Manchester United at Stamford Bridge for an early season showdown for top four places. Despite scoring problems of their own, the Red Devils have only failed to score once in the last seven games in all competitions but having conceded only twice so far in his tenure at Chelsea, Potter feels their defense is well adaptable to such threats. The points dropped midweek with United beating Spurs in their meant Chelsea lost the chance of extending their lead to three points and leveling up with Antonio Conte’s men on third in the table. Defeat for Potter as Chelsea manager for the first time will drop the Blues out of the Champions League places, a situation he won’t be wishing for in a fixture where wins have been hard to come by.
Touted as the best performance in Erik Ten Hag’s era, goals from Fred and Bruno Fernandes in the second half rounded off a much-needed win over Tottenham Hotspurs at Old Trafford with the three points earned putting them on the brink of a Champions League place if they manage to beat Chelsea at the weekend. But all the celebratory outcomes of the game did not make so many headlines as the image of Cristiano Ronaldo leaving the pitch and reportedly out of the stadium before the final whistle blew. The manager confirmed the Portuguese refused to come on as a late substitute in the game and will not be a part of the squad to face the Blues as a case. The 37-year-old was guilty of doing something similar in one of the pre-season games with reports now circulating of the club deciding to let him go for free in the January transfer window. Erik Ten Hag would not have wanted such episodes to unfold at a time the team is gaining progress but had to take strict steps in order to maintain discipline in the squad. Aside from this fiasco, the Red Devils reigned supreme over Spurs constantly pressing and pinning the opposition through their intensity in the attack. Although the forwards did not fire on the evening, the coach will be pleased by their work rate which will be necessary again in the away trip to Stamford Bridge. With a prize now to achieve at the end of victory, Manchester United will be up for their battle against Chelsea in a fixture they have restricted the opposition to only one win in the last 11 meetings. That being said, United’s victory in 2020 at the Bridge was the only second time they gather three points at this ground in a decade with the last two ending in 1-1 and 0-0 draws, a common theme of results in recent clashes. Despite the records, it will be a tough fight for Ten Hag’s side with Chelsea carrying an unbeaten record in the eight Premier League home games till now.
CHE vs MUN Team News
Erik Ten Hag confirmed that Anthony Martial is back in training but won’t be available for the trip to Stamford Bridge. He is likely to be available for the Europa League game against Sheriff at home next week. The main talking is obviously about Cristiano Ronaldo who will not be part of the squad for this game for disciplinary reasons as per the club statement. Harry Maguire and Brandon Williams were pictured in the training with Aaron Wan-Bissaka also edging closer to a return with Erik Ten Hag happy about their recovery from their respective injuries. Christian Eriksen did not feature in the draw against Newcastle due to illness and got only three minutes under the belt in the win against his former side Tottenham midweek with Fred starting both the encounter alongside Casemiro. The Dane could get a chance in the midfield if Ten Hag wants to be more creative from midfield even though Bruno Fernandes has stepped up his game with a goal in the 2-0 win.
As for Chelsea, N’Golo Kante is on the long-term injury list with a hamstring injury keeping him out for the rest of the year and missing the World Cup altogether. Star right-back Reece James is also set to miss out on the showpiece in Qatar with the rehabilitation for his knee injury taking eight weeks. Conor Gallagher was substituted due to illness in the draw against Brentford in midweek needing a late assessment to get involved again with the squad for the big clash on Saturday. Chelsea are without Wesley Fofana due to a knee injury that will keep the defender out till next month.
CHE vs MUN Predicted Lineups
CHL: Kepa Arrizabalaga; Trevor Chalobah, Thiago Silva, Kalidou Koulibaly; Loftus-Cheek, Mateo Kovacic, Jorginho, Ben Chilwell; Raheem Sterling, Mason Mount; Aubameyang
MUN: De Gea; Diogo Dalot, Raphael Varane, Lisandro Martinez, Luke Shaw; Casemiro, Fred; Antony, Bruno Fernandes, Jadon Sancho; Marcus Rashford
CHE vs MUN Dream11 Team prediction
GK: Kepa (6.5)
DEF: Dalot (8), T Silva (7.5), L Martinez (8), Shaw (7)
MID: Antony (9), Casemiro (8), Fernandes (8.5), Mount (9)
FW: Sterling (8.5), Rashford (9)
Vice-captain: Bruno Fernandes
Captain: Mason Mount
Both goalkeepers are in good form coming into the game but while David De Gea has more credits (7.5) of the two, Kepa Arrizabalaga has eclipsed all in terms of saving shots in the four games this season for Chelsea. He has prevented 16 shots from finding the back of the net including 5 in the last game.
Bruno Fernandes has made two man-of-the-match displays in the last two games for Manchester United scoring a goal and creating 12 chances.
Mason Mount has scored 2 goals and delivered 2 assists in his last four Premier League games since Graham Potter took charge having not made any goal contribution in the seven league games prior.
Stay tuned to Fantasy Football for upcoming matches.
