Manchester United vs Chelsea

One of the most heavily expected fixtures in the Premier League calendar pits Manchester United and Chelsea against each other at Old Trafford.

Like practically relinquishing their hopes of reaching the Champions League knockouts with a 3-3 draw at Galatasaray wasn’t troubling enough, Manchester United slumped to a disheartening 1-0 defeat at Newcastle United last weekend, surrendering a three-game winning league run. Erik ten Hag’s side allowed the ‘Magpies’ to rack up a 2.98 xG, testifying to their long-standing struggles against high-profile opponents. Since the start of last season, the ‘Red Devils’ have suffered ten defeats in 11 Premier League away matches against top-nine clubs (D1). Moreover, they’ve yet to pick up a single point against the sides from the upper half of the table this season, with their three top-flight showdowns against the traditional ‘Bix Six’ yielding multi-goal margin defeats. United’s frontline has been the team’s weak link, with only Crystal Palace and the bottom four performing below their 16-goal tally.

On the other hand, Chelsea paid a hefty price for beating Brighton 3-2 at home at the weekend, losing stand-in captain Conor Gallagher to suspension, albeit reducing the gap on fourth-placed Aston Villa to ten points. However, erasing the memory of their last Premier League travel won’t be straightforward, as Newcastle thumped them 4-1 en route to inflicting a joint-heaviest EPL defeat on manager Mauricio Pochettino. The Argentine can make history here if he can inspire the ‘Blues’ to their first top-flight win at Old Trafford since 2013. In doing so, he’d become the first ‘Spurs’ boss to win a top-flight game at this venue in the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era (D6, L4). Pochettino can draw confidence from his side’s three-match winning away league run before that disappointing result on Tyneside and the fact they averaged 3.33 goals per game in that sequence. If nothing, they’ve been fun to watch, with their last four EPL fixtures seeing over 4.5 goals and both teams scoring.