Manchester United v Chelsea Preview & Predictions

2020-21 English Premier League preview: Manchester United v Chelsea – Old Trafford – Saturday, October 24,2020 – 17:30 hrs GMT

Premier League; Manchester United v Chelsea Preview

Top-Four hopefuls Manchester United and Chelsea face each other at Old Trafford for a Premier league clash on Saturday, October 24th.

After a 1-6 humbling at Old Trafford at the hands of Tottenham, Ole Solsjaer's Red Devils seemed to have veered on course with an impressive 1-4 win over Newcastle and an immensely morale-boosting one over Paris St Germain away in France last Tuesday.

As for Frank Lampard Blues, the defense that's been the main worry looked to have found its feet in a fighting 0-0 draw against Europa League champions Sevilla a few days back.

Manchester United Premier League form: LWLW

Manchester United form (all competitions): WWWLWW

Chelsea Premier League form: WLDWD

Chelsea form (all competitions): WDLWDD

For United, the team news is that defenders Harry Maguire could be back from his injury spell while Eric Bailly will be out.

Axel Tuanzebe who put in a splendid display against PSG in his first game after 10 months seems to be a natural choice at the back.

Anthony Martial will miss out on the Saturday's clash being on a red-card suspension while deadline-day arrival Edinson Cavani may be all set to make his first appearance at Old Trafford after being left out for the trip to his former club PSG.

Mason Greenwood still looks doubtful more because of disciplinary issues than injury. Jesse Lingard is fit to return but unlikely to be included while Paul Pogba may again have to settle for a place on the bench.

In the absence of Martial, the attack trio for the Red Devils will comprise of Bruno Fernandes, Marcus Rashford and Cavani.

Chelsea are now gradually returning to full-strength with Billy Gilmour the only absentee. Eduardo Mendy returned ahead of schedule against Sevilla to put up a very impressive display.

There are concerns over Thiago Silva's fitness after he took a hard fall in the game against Sevilla on Tuesday while Ajax-import Hakim Ziyech could be pushing for his first start.

Manchester United possible starting lineup:

De Gea (goal); Wan-Bissaka, Tuanzebe, Maguire, Telles; McTominay, Fred; Greenwood, Fernandes, Rashford; Cavani

Chelsea possible starting lineup:

Mendy (goal); James, Silva, Zouma, Chilwell; Jorginho, Kante; Mount, Havertz, Pulisic; Werner

Chelsea have conceded more away goals than any other club in the Premier League since the start of last season (42), while their away matches in total have seen more goals than any other team's with 87 going in.

Tuesday night's goalless draw turned out one of Chelsea's rare clean sheets.

The fact that new goalkeeper Edouard Mendy has now kept two clean sheets in his two appearances will raise hopes that the Blues' poor defensive record will improve if he becomes a regular part of the starting XI.

Chelsea's last Premier League away outing saw them go behind by 0-3 to West Bromwich Albion before salvaging a 3-3 draw.

But to expect a similar feat against Manchester United if they were off to another poor start at Old Trafford would be asking for a bit too much.

Manchester United beat the Blues 4-0 and 0-2 in their two encounters last season and they would be brimming with confidence to overcome their weekend rivals for the third time in a row at a venue where their aggregate against the Blues in the last couple of seasons stands at a favorable 9-2.

Manchester United v Chelsea Predictions & betting Odds

Chelsea are by no means specialists on the road, but their matches guarantee goals at the moment and a few of the them could come from their boots what with attackers like new signings Timo Werner and Kai Havertz, the back-from-injury Christian Pulisic and Mason Mount dotting their ranks.