Chelsea’s rollercoaster season takes another interesting turn on Thursday night as they welcome an unpredictable Man U side to town for a fascinating and hard to predict game.
Chelsea vs Man U kick-off time and UK TV channel
Viewers in the UK should note this is an unusually late kick off – a 20.15 start means the game won’t end until pretty late at night. The Liverpool Sheffield United game starts 45 minutes before, giving you something of an appetiser to enjoy while you wait for kick off.
The Chelsea game is on TNT Sports 1, and they will have all the buildup and coverage from 19.30, as well as live updates of any goals in the Liverpool match which is on TNT Sports 2. TNT’s app also allows you to stream the game on the go.
Of course, nothing will quite match being at the stadium in person.
Injury news
As has been the case all year, the first things Chelsea fans need to worry about is injury news. We will get more information from Mauricio Pochettino in his upcoming press conference, but there are certain Blues who can be ruled out already.
Wesley Fofana, Romeo Lavia, Lesley Ugochukwu, Christopher Nkunku and Reece James are not even doing group training, so they’re all out.
Carney Chukwuemeka, Levi Colwill, Ben Chilwell and Trevoh Chalobah all missed our last game hurt, but have featured recently and could yet play if they get some training sessions in before Thursday.
Malo Gusto was taken off with what looked like a hamstring injury on Saturday, but we’ve not had any official update on him, so it could be anything from a bit of cramp to a serious tear, and we simply don’t know yet.
Man U are seriously hit by injuries in defence – Luke Shaw and Tyrell Malacia are definitely out, then Victor Lindelof, Jonny Evans and Raphael Varane are all major doubts. However the rest of their team is largely fit and ready to go.
Head-to-head: Chelsea favourites despite inconsistencies
It’s a very hard game to call, with both sides able to play well in moments and look terrible at others, often in the same game.
Chelsea are favourites with the bookies, which is interesting considering they haven’t won a league game against Manchester United since November 2017. This is a beatable team of course, but given how easily Chelsea have capitulated against much weaker sides, we’re not as hopeful as some.
The game back in December saw the Red Devils win 2-1 at Old Trafford, where we were totally unable to take advantage of their poor form at the time.
Predicted team:
It’s almost impossible to pick any Chelsea team in advance at the moment as the fitness status of most players is a bit of a mystery. Outside of availability we do have some indications of Mauricio Pochettino’s favoured players however.
In goal Djordje Petrovic will continue after establishing himself as number one.
In defence, we just pray Malo Gusto‘s injury is nothing serious. That puts him at right back, with Axel Disasi and Benoit Badiashile playing in the middle, hoping to rebuild their old Monaco partnership.
Ben Chilwell had a knock from international duty, but a week off since then should mean he’s fine to play on Thursday.
In midfield, we expect Moises Caicedo to play and Enzo Fernandez to be rested, although it could be the other way around. That means Conor Gallagher dropping in deeper, opening a spot up front up.
Nicolas Jackson will lead the line with Raheem Sterling and Mykhailo Mudryk playing out wide and Cole Palmer shifted inside to Gallagher’s usual role.
