Two faltering titans in the Premier League face off at Old Trafford on Wednesday night. Manchester United are looking to get back to winning ways, while Chelsea are also trying to climb up the table.
The Reds’ woes continued with a 1-0 defeat at Newcastle United on Saturday night, and it doesn’t bode well that we’ve not won against the top flight’s top nine this season.
Man United's away results vs top 9 under Erik Ten Hag [Sky Sports] pic.twitter.com/b49sxa6dC7
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Chelsea come to Old Trafford after restoring a sense of pride by seeing of Brighton 3-2 over the weekend. If it comes down to desire, I’ll be fearing the worst because we haven’t shown enough of that this season.
Without further ado, here are three things to look out for when United take on Chelsea.
The sheer unpredictability
Chelsea have been like a packet of revels with too many of the dire coffee tasting chocolates. They’re below us in the table but it’s too close for comfort. United need to start climbing up the table, but the fact Chelsea appear more clinical than us means I’m now fearing the worst about Wednesday night’s clash. We cannot afford to let Chelsea have the run of things in midfield. And, on the note, I fear our midfield will go missing again. Like it does every other week.
While Chelsea have been hit and miss, and you could argue we’ve been inconsistent too, but it doesn’t bode well that we’ve got one point against the top 9 in the Premier League this season.
Does Scott McTominay keep his place in midfield?
Although he’s scored more goals than most of our players this season, I don’t think McTominay gets anywhere near the line-up if everyone is fully fit. He touched the ball 30 times against Newcastle as Bruno Guimarães had him in his back pocket. Why not start Kobbie Mainoo and Sofyan Amrabat together in midfield?
It probably doesn’t help that McTominay knows Erik ten Hag was happy to sell him in the summer. When you want lads to go to war for you, it helps if they know you have their back.
Shaw back at left-back
We waited what felt like forever for Luke Shaw to return from injury, but it was to see him at left-back. I must stress that don’t think he played poorly at centre-back against Newcastle. That said, I’m less forgiven if that means we have to play Diogo Dalot at left-back.
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