Jose Mourinho returns to the Stamford Bridge, but for a first time in his career as a manager of Manchester United. And for a first time in his Premier League career, he will get himself into a tactical duel with Chelsea’s Antonio Conte. There is first time for everything!
Chelsea welcome Manchester United in the most interesting game of the Premier League 9th round. Both teams are currently out of the Top 4 of the EPL, which is not acceptable for them in any possible way. Both managers are heavily criticized for some of their results since the start of the campaign, so they know that a bad result on Sunday would mean more problems for them.
We could say that Chelsea and Manchester United are performing very differently in the last two rounds of the league. The Blues managed to get two consecutive wins against Hull City and Leicester City, which brought some more comfort to Antonio Conte, who was put under some serious fire lately. Manchester United on the other hand lost precious points against Stoke City and Liverpool, which meant that the Red Devils are going to remain at least five points away from the top.
Antonio Conte can’t rely on the injured Cesc Fabregas and Branislav Ivanovic, who missed the game against Leicester as well.
Late fitness tests will determine if Chris Smalling and Morgan Schneiderlin will be avaliable for Manchester United for the game. James Wilson and Phil Jones remain sidelined.
Manchester United are looking to beat Chelsea in the Premier League for a first time since October 2012, when The Red Devils managed to beat The Blues with 3-2 at the Stamford Bridge. Since then, United are unable to get a win against the Londoners. Last season both of the games between the two teams finished with a draw - 0-0 at Manchester and 1-1 at London.
Prediction: The game between Liverpool and Manchester United at the Anfield was a good example of what to expect from The Red Devils in derbies like this one. You can bet that Mourinho’s first thought against Chelsea will be how to avoid losing. We expect another defensive showdown from the away team, so that’s why we recommend to try the Under 2.5 goals pick for this one. If you want to risk more for higher odds, you could try the draw as well or even a correct score - 0:0 or 1:1.
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Both teams scored in Chelsea FC's last 7 matches in Premier League
In Arsenal's last 4 games against Watford FC were scored over 2.5 goals (Premier League)
Manchester City haven't lost any of their last 6 home matches in all competitions
Manchester United haven't lost any of their last 8 matches against Hull City in Premier League
Bournemouth have lost their last 3 league games
Southampton haven't lost any of their last 6 home matches in Premier League
Both teams scored in all of Southampton's last 7 home games in Premier League
Middlesbrough are scoring an average of 2 goals in away Premier League games
Tottenham have scored 1+ goals in all of their last 12 league matches