Manchester United are back in London on Thursday evening, as we take on Chelsea at Stamford Bridge (20:15 BST kick-off).
Both teams had disappointing draws in the capital at the weekend, with the Blues held 2-2 at home by struggling, 10-man Burnley before United were perhaps fortunate to escape Brentford with a point.
There’s no time to dwell on those games though, as the Premier League has a full fixture schedule this week, starting on Tuesday and culminating with this match.
TEAM NEWS
Amad returns from his one-match suspension, having missed the draw at Brentford, but Victor Lindelof and Lisandro Martinez are out. Raphael Varane could also be a doubt after being substituted early at the Gtech Community Stadium, although Ten Hag suggested he was taken off as a precaution.
Casemiro and Harry Maguire were introduced as replacements against the Bees, following recovery from injury, and could be pushing for starts this time around.
Altay Bayindir and Jonny Evans have not been involved in our last two fixtures and missed their respective nations’ recent international outings, while Tyrell Malacia, Anthony Martial and Luke Shaw are longer-term absentees.
The home side have been particularly injury-hit of late and Wesley Fofana (knee) and Romeo Lavia (hamstring) have already been ruled out for the remainder of the campaign by Pochettino, while Reece James, Christopher Nkunku and Lesley Ugochukwu (all hamstring) are also likely to be missing for a while yet.
Ben Chilwell and Carney Chukwuemeka returned from international duty nursing problems and Levi Colwill and Robert Sanchez have been struggling for fitness. Malo Gusto has established himself at right-back since Christmas but was withdrawn due to a hamstring issue, while reports are suggesting Trevoh Chalobah could be fit to play.
Raheem Sterling dropped to the bench for the visit of Burnley on Saturday but Pochettino hinted the experienced England international could come back in for this fixture.
PAST MEETINGS
Scott McTominay was at the double in the reverse fixture, as United put in one of our best league performances this season to beat the Blues 2-1 at Old Trafford in December. We also defeated Chelsea in M16 last term, by a 4-1 scoreline, but the sides have been harder to separate when it comes to London meetings. Each of the last three Stamford Bridge contests have been drawn, including our most recent visit, in October 2022, when Casemiro’s stoppage-time header secured a deserved point just minutes after Jorginho had given the Blues a late lead from the spot.
United are bidding to complete only a second Premier League double over Chelsea, after beating the Blues home and away in 2019/20. That season marked our last Stamford Bridge win and was one of just six we’ve managed in total there since the competition was rebranded in 1992.
FORM GUIDE
The result at Brentford was a blow, considering the positive scorelines for Aston Villa and Tottenham in the Champions League race. United now sit 11 points behind the former and eight points off the latter and, even though fifth place could still be enough to secure a place in Europe’s top competition, time is running out to make up the gap on those sides.
Chelsea face a battle to even be involved in European football at all next season, but they do have at least one game in hand on the teams above them in the table. Although Pochettino’s men are unbeaten in five matches since a 4-2 home reverse to Wolves in early February, only two of those games have been won (away to Crystal Palace (A) and at home to Newcastle).
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