Draw Specialists at it Again
Manchester United welcome Chelsea to Old Trafford on Sunday afternoon for the biggest Premier League fixture of the weekend.
Manchester United are aiming to keep their top four hopes alive this season and will need to take maximum points if they are to remain in the running for Champions League qualification. Chelsea will see this game as an opportunity to place down a marker to Tottenham Hotspur that they are not about to give up their lead in the title race.
Trends show Manchester United come into this game unbeaten in their previous twenty-five matches at Old Trafford, which is a fantastic record. However, despite Old Trafford becoming a difficult place for the opposition to win, Jose Mourinho’s team have struggled to win games themselves, relying on draws to keep their home record going.
Manchester United have drawn three of their last four home matches in the Premier League. The draws have come against Bournemouth, West Bromwich Albion and Everton. These are teams Manchester United are expected to defeat at home and dropped points have proved costly at Old Trafford this season.
The Red Devils have tasted defeat in just one of their previous seventeen matches in all competitions and Chelsea were the team to inflict this single defeat. The 1-0 win for the Blues came at Stamford Bridge in the FA Cup, a match which saw Manchester United midfielder Ander Herrera sent off.
The last team to defeat Manchester United in the Premier League was also Chelsea. Antonio Conte’s team eased to a 4-0 victory in London, a game which formed the basis of a great run of results for the league leaders.
Chelsea have lost just one of their last eleven Premier League games and that was a shock 2-1 home defeat at the hands of Crystal Palace. Chelsea have put that result behind them by beating Manchester City and Bournemouth.
Trends show Chelsea are unbeaten in their last twelve matches against Manchester United in all competitions. Chelsea have enjoyed some tremendous victories over the Red Devils during that time, however, the last three Premier League games at Old Trafford have ended level and we could be in for a similar result this time around.
Chelsea have been struggling to keep clean sheets of late and you must go back ten Premier League games, to the match against Hull City, to find the last time Conte’s team kept out the opposition. Manchester United have done better defensively, keeping four clean sheets in their previous eight league games.
The problem for Mourinho has been scoring enough goals, especially at home. Only once in the last six home Premier League games have Manchester United scored more than one goal, which is a poor return. Chelsea have had no problem finding the back of the net and have scored 2 goals or more in five of their previous six league games.
Manchester United will be aiming to keep Chelsea’s chances down to a minimum and how well they do that, will depend on the team selected by Mourinho. Chelsea will arrive with a full strength XI, aiming to win the game and edge closer to the title.
This will be a close game, regardless of the Manchester United starting XI and a low scoring draw seems likely. If there is one team who could come out on top and sneak the win, it must be Chelsea.
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